US recalls ex-soldiers for duty
America is proud of its volunteer armed services
The US army has moved to recall nearly 6,000 former soldiers to active service to help maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It has played down the move but this is the first sizeable call-up of the kind since the 1991 Gulf War and critics say it amounts to backdoor conscription.
The US has relied on volunteer armed forces since ending the draft three decades ago during the Vietnam War.
It has a pool of 111,000 ex-soldiers in its Individual Ready Reserve.
The BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs, reports that the recall is a further sign of the strain on the army and is likely to provoke controversy.
'Nothing new'
There are currently about 140,000 US troops in Iraq, many more than the Pentagon had originally planned for at this stage.
INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVE
Currently numbers 111,000
Members have active status but do not train
Members are open to call-up for eight years after ending service
Most recent mass involuntary call-ups: 1991 and 1968
As members of the IRR, the 5,600 former soldiers now being recalled have retired or otherwise left the military but still have a reserve obligation.
Unlike other reservists, however, they do not train or receive pay unless they are mobilised and probably did not expect ever to have to serve again, our correspondent says.
The US army defended the recall as "nothing new or unusual".
"It's a management tool which we've always had available to augment our forces when we need additional personnel in a time of war," said Lt Col Pamela Hart, an army spokeswoman at the Pentagon.
Unwritten agreement
The development, along with other recent Pentagon moves to stop many current soldiers from retiring, will add ammunition to those critics who say the Bush administration is attempting a backdoor draft.
American soldiers are now deployed across the world
Retired Army Col Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University international relations professor, said the recall suggested the army was too small for its current missions.
"These are people who used to be soldiers and no longer are," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"The informal contract... is that I have volunteered for a certain period of time and once that time is up, then the choice returns to me to decide either to continue my service or to opt out.
"What the Bush administration is doing is just shredding that informal contract."
The national security adviser to the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said the recall was proof of the Bush administration's failure to enlist foreign support in Iraq.
"The fact is that this involuntary call-up is a direct result of the Bush administration's diplomatic failure to get real international help in Iraq," said Rand Beers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3852209.stm
America is proud of its volunteer armed services
The US army has moved to recall nearly 6,000 former soldiers to active service to help maintain its force levels in Iraq and Afghanistan.
It has played down the move but this is the first sizeable call-up of the kind since the 1991 Gulf War and critics say it amounts to backdoor conscription.
The US has relied on volunteer armed forces since ending the draft three decades ago during the Vietnam War.
It has a pool of 111,000 ex-soldiers in its Individual Ready Reserve.
The BBC's Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs, reports that the recall is a further sign of the strain on the army and is likely to provoke controversy.
'Nothing new'
There are currently about 140,000 US troops in Iraq, many more than the Pentagon had originally planned for at this stage.
INDIVIDUAL READY RESERVE
Currently numbers 111,000
Members have active status but do not train
Members are open to call-up for eight years after ending service
Most recent mass involuntary call-ups: 1991 and 1968
As members of the IRR, the 5,600 former soldiers now being recalled have retired or otherwise left the military but still have a reserve obligation.
Unlike other reservists, however, they do not train or receive pay unless they are mobilised and probably did not expect ever to have to serve again, our correspondent says.
The US army defended the recall as "nothing new or unusual".
"It's a management tool which we've always had available to augment our forces when we need additional personnel in a time of war," said Lt Col Pamela Hart, an army spokeswoman at the Pentagon.
Unwritten agreement
The development, along with other recent Pentagon moves to stop many current soldiers from retiring, will add ammunition to those critics who say the Bush administration is attempting a backdoor draft.
American soldiers are now deployed across the world
Retired Army Col Andrew Bacevich, a Boston University international relations professor, said the recall suggested the army was too small for its current missions.
"These are people who used to be soldiers and no longer are," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"The informal contract... is that I have volunteered for a certain period of time and once that time is up, then the choice returns to me to decide either to continue my service or to opt out.
"What the Bush administration is doing is just shredding that informal contract."
The national security adviser to the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said the recall was proof of the Bush administration's failure to enlist foreign support in Iraq.
"The fact is that this involuntary call-up is a direct result of the Bush administration's diplomatic failure to get real international help in Iraq," said Rand Beers.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3852209.stm
