Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!att!cbnews!military From: carlson@gateway (Bruce Carlson) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Reserve Call-Up Message-ID: <1990Aug28.043340.946@cbnews.att.com> Date: 28 Aug 90 04:33:40 GMT References: <1990Aug22.025527.16670@cbnews.att.com> Sender: military@cbnews.att.com (William B. Thacker) Organization: The Mitre Corporation Lines: 58 Approved: military@att.att.com Full-Name: Usenet News From: carlson@gateway (Bruce Carlson) In article <1990Aug22.025527.16670@cbnews.att.com> wmartin@STL-06SIMA.ARMY.MIL (Will Martin) writes: > > >Just what are the mechanics and procedures for a call-up of Reserves in >the US? I think the specific mechanisms may vary from service to service; my comments apply to the Army callup. Reserve units are in two categories: Army National Guard - Nearly all combat units are in the National Guard; for example 29th Infantry Division (light), the roundout brigade of the 24th Inf Division at Ft Stewart, etc. These units may be standalone, but many are affiliated with and train with an active duty unit. Most of the time they are called up in battalion or, more likely, brigade sized units. Army Reserve - Most AR units are combat support or combat service support. They include communications, supply, transport and other units. Units train for 2 days a month and two weeks annual training. Since many of the personnel have specialized skills they may be called up individually, in small sized units, or in large sized units, depending on what the Army needs. Army Reserve also has Individual Mobilization Augmentees (IMAs) that are not part of a reserve unit. These people are assigned to active duty units and are called-up to augment their staff. IMAs train for 2 weeks a year with their active unit and may train monthly if funding is available. There are also many people in the Individual Ready Reserve. They are inactive, but still on the Army rolls. They are subject to callup but are not in a unit or an IMA position. They show up once a year at a recruiting office to demonstrate that they are alive and more or less available. The exact order for callup depends on requirements and the influence of the organizations that need Reserve support. It costs money to call up reserves and everything has to be prioritized. Its political in the sense that more important and influential active duty commanders may get support sooner, but I don't think anyone cares which state the units come from. If a reserve unit is well known to the active duty commander and he trusts their performance they may get called up sooner; or if the reserve unit has special skills they will get called up first. Back in the (recent) days of the Panama invasion it was interesting to see what reserve specialties were in demand. They needed power plant operators, people experienced in running city water systems, people who knew how to run city sanitation systems, etc. Reservists were used to get the local systems back up and running at a near-normal level. Bruce Carlson