The July 12 edition of Army Times had a nice interview with Steve.  Besides covering our own story, which has been very similar to the experience of other IRR families, it had a bit more information on the current IRR call up and IRRs in general.

Of particular interest is the length of time for the current activations, which will range anywhere from 12 months to 2 years.

The other area of interest to a lot of people out there is the job skills most likely to be called.  The Army Times lists the five most needed areas as:  truck driver, automated logistical specialist, light-wheeled vehicle mechanic, administrative specialist, and combat engineer.  Of course, as we saw from the band callups mentioned here earlier, it seems that no MOS is safe.

As a note for those who are activated, I would definitely recommend that your family subscribe to the Army Times.  It has a lot of good information on general military topics, as well as specific news related to operations in Iraq.  (This is nice if you want to keep up with the news of what is happening, but at a safe delay so as to minimize your worry about your spouse's possible involvement.)