John Kerry made headlines this week when he said that George W. Bush has a secret plan to call up more Guard and Reserve troops in the months after the election.  The Bush camp is calling this idea "false and ridiculous." If we can get past the politics of this idea, how credible a claim is it?  To do that, we need to look at the facts and what we know about recent history.

It is clear that our troops are stretched thin.  Congress is calling for increasing the size of the Army by thousands of soldiers.  This is not news, as the idea has been circulating at least a year.  However, the Pentagon and the current administration are resistant to that move, saying that our current forces are adequate for the myriad of roles that they are undertaking.

Even those within the military are saying that the Army is in danger of running short of military specialists.  Lt. Gen. James Hemley, chief of the Army Reserve, this week noted that soldiers with certain skills are running critically low, given the current pace of operations and the personnel available.  Furthermore, the Army Reserves and National Guard are having increasing trouble meeting their recruiting and retention goals, in large part due to extended deployments being required of these citizen-soldiers.  Interestingly, this shortfall is leading to an increased number of recruiters, a move that is itself reducing the number of active deployable soldiers by the hundreds as servicemen and women are being retasked to this duty.

There are lingering questions about the use of the IRR.  We, like many other IRR families, received a notice in early May (on Department of the Army letterhead) that stated, “This office has received official notification that all current members of the IRR will be involuntarily transferred to a troop program unit. .... This is not any type of recruiting or sales gimmick, this will be happening starting May 18th thru 1 June 2004.”  Similar letters went out all over the country, leading soldiers to return to active status with Reserve and National Guard units in droves.  Later, after a public outcry, the Pentagon disavowed this supposed disintegration of the IRR, saying it was merely the misinterpretation of a few recruiters to non-official information. 

Finally, there is what the military says is happening with personnel and what is really happening.  On May 12, Lt. Col. Burt Masters of HRC St. Louis stated that “No Individual Ready Reserve soldiers have been called up involuntarily so far.”  My husband's orders were dated April 21.  From HRC St. Louis.  He didn't volunteer.

Forget the politics of the situation.  Consider the reality.