XPost: ny.politics, nj.politics, ca.politics 
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 From: ob110ob@aatt.net 
  
   843 ex-soldiers fail to report for Army duty 
  
 WASHINGTON (AP) -- 
 More than 800 former soldiers have failed to 
 comply with Army orders to get back in 
 uniform and report for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan, 
 the Army said Friday. That is more than one-third 
 of the total who were told to report to a mobilization 
 station by October 17. 
  
 Three weeks ago the number stood at 622 amid 
 talk that any who refused to report for duty could 
 be declared Absent Without Leave. Refusing to 
 report for duty normally would lead to AWOL 
 charges, but the Army is going out of its way to 
 resolve these cases as quietly as possible. 
  
 In all, 4,166 members of the Individual Ready 
 Reserve have received mobilization orders 
 since July 6, of which 2,288 were to have 
 reported by October 17. The others are to 
 report in coming weeks and months. 
  
 Of those due to have reported by now, 1,445 
 have done so, but 843 have neither reported 
 nor asked for a delay or exemption. That 
 no-show rate of 37 percent is roughly in line 
 with the one-third rate the Army had forecast 
 when it began the mobilization to fill positions 
 in regular and Reserve units. By comparison, 
 the no-show total of 622 three weeks ago 
 equated to a 35 percent rate. 
  
 Of the 843, the Army has had follow-up contact 
 with 383 and is seeking to resolve their cases, 
 according to figures made public Friday. For 
 the 460 others, "We are still working to 
 establish positive contact," the Army said. 
 Some may not have received the mailed 
 orders. 
  
 Members of the Individual Ready Reserve, or 
 IRR, are rarely called to active duty. The last 
 time was 1990, when nearly 20,000 were 
 mobilized. 
  
 IRR members are people who were honorably 
 discharged after finishing their active-duty tours, 
 usually four to six years, but remained in the 
 IRR for the rest of the eight-year commitment 
 they made when they joined the Army. They 
 are separate from the reserve troops who are 
 more routinely mobilized -- the National Guard 
 and Reserve. 
  
 The Army anticipated, based on past experience, 
 that about one-third of the IRR people it called 
 up would be disqualified for medical or other 
 reasons. The trend so far bears that out. 
  
 The Marine Corps, meanwhile, said Friday 
 that a Marine killed in western Iraq earlier 
 this week, Sgt. Douglas E. Bascom, 25, of 
 Colorado Springs, Colorado, was a member 
 of the Individual Ready Reserve. He was the 
 first IRR Marine to die in Iraq, according to 
 Gunnery Sgt. Kristine Scharber, a 
 spokeswoman at Marine Corps headquarters 
 in the Pentagon. 
  
 There are about 400 IRR Marines deployed 
 in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Shane 
 Darbonne, a spokesman for the Marine Corps 
 Mobilization Command. 
  
 Army officials said they were uncertain 
 whether any of their Individual Ready 
 Reserve members have been killed in 
 Iraq. 
  
 That the Army has had to reach so deeply 
 into its store of reserve soldiers is a measure 
 of the strain the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns 
 have put on the active-duty Army. When the 
 American invading force toppled Baghdad in 
 April 2003, the Army thought it would be 
 sending most of its soldiers home within 
 months. Instead, it has kept 100,000 or more 
 there ever since. 
  
 While the number of IRR Army soldiers who 
 have failed to comply with their mobilization 
 order has increased this month, so has the 
 number who have asked for a delay or to be 
 excused from serving. 
  
 The number who have requested delays or 
 exemptions has grown from 1,498 (out of 
 a total of 3,899 mobilization orders) in late 
 September to 1,671 (out of a total of 4,166 
 orders) as of October 17. A little over one-third 
 of the requests have been acted on, with 584 
 approved and 21 denied. 
  
 The Army said some withdrew their requests 
 even after they had been approved. It did not 
 say how many. 
 --- 
  
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