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Chu's Update Must Not Be Happening
... Our battalion called up 5 captains from IRR, 2 who's resignations had been denied, to fill slots on an MTOE that was bloated for our mission. Now, 8 months into the deployement, only 1 one of these officers even has a "real" job, the rest just kind of float around day to day.
This sounds more like Chu's update is not happening if all that is happening for the 06-07 rotation. There would be no reason for a resignation to be denied if an officer never had to resign in the first place. You're absolutely right though that many of the call-ups seem absolutely pointless.
While I was at SCCC for Signal in '04, we had a captain, a major and a lieutenant colonel recalled from the IRR that joined us on occasion to get a feel for what was new in Signal (since they'd been out for awhile). As you might imagine, their 8 year commitment had long since passed. This was the first time I heard (from them) that in order to get out of the IRR, apparently you're supposed to resign your commission. "Who knew that?" was pretty much the common attitude between them. Needless to say, they seemed pretty pissed. Did they all end up going to Iraq? Nope - they sent one of them to Honduras. Many other IRR recalls, like you said, have gone to units that just plain don't need them.
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standards of retention
I do believe Chu's update is happening, I'm just at a loss to find it in writing. The recent surge in Captain (03) retention bonuses being offered right now leads me to believe that the Army is letting those that want out out, and trying to keep those officers willing to stay extra incentives. I can tell you from personal experience, I currently am serving as a junior officer in a aviation attack battalion serving in Iraq, that the army has been misusing and abusing the IRR system in recent years. Our battalion called up 5 captains from IRR, 2 who's resignations had been denied, to fill slots on an MTOE that was bloated for our mission. Now, 8 months into the deployement, only 1 one of these officers even has a "real" job, the rest just kind of float around day to day. I feel awful for these officers, they served for 6 years on active duty, then were uprooted from their new civilan lives for no reason. We could have easily filled these slots with guard or reserve officers, or even reevaluated our MTOE and not filled them at all. I hear the same story across other units, they called up numerous IRR fills and now have too many people with no jobs. My opinon is no, officers should not be held to a different standard of retention, we should be offered the same incentives as enlisted soldiers if the Army wants us to keep us longer. I would not want an officer in charge of me who didn't want to be there.
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