Army to begin 'Involuntary Classification' reassignments

[kskiska]

ARLINGTON, Va. — Some soldiers are about to switch jobs — whether they like it or not.

Under a long-standing authority called “Involuntary Classification,” Army officials are about to exercise their right to tell soldiers they need to take a different job in order to “rebalance the force,” Army officials said.

Beginning this week, around 140 soldiers will get a letter informing them that they’ve been reassigned, complete with a date to attend a school for retraining, along with information about whether they will need to pull up stakes and move permanently, or just attend the school in temporary duty status, according to Connie Marche, Chief of the Army’s Reclassification Management Branch.

Soldiers should have “at least 90 days notice” of the move.

“But it’s not optional,” Marche said in a Monday telephone interview. “It’s an order.”

more…
http://www.stripesonline.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23355

[IndianaGreen]

1. This really sucks!

It will also have a negative effect on recruitment. Who can trust the enlistment contract (they shouldn't have trusted it in the first place!).

[Zorra]

8. Yeah. And they are already having recruitment problems re Iraq.

[steely]

2. I wonder what the true numbers are.....

The article states 140 as the intial number, then mentions just one branch (as an example?) - the MI, citing 700 heads. The sidebar gives MOS info in dribs and drabs - numbers like 15 to 20.

If I recall, once they (the Army) reclassified some MOS's simply by training some communications folks to handle newer equipment - seemed pretty seamless, but was a terrific pain because the schools weren't ready to handle the influx.

My first thought was that they were ripping cooks out of the mess to have thme go to a line (infantry) unit, but upon a second look, they are just dealing with alot of very esoteric specialties. Hard for me as a vet to recall if this is just regular churning - anyone? Methinks it is.

[aquart]

11. What's an MOS?

Asks the permanent civilian with the draft dodger knees.

[Dogmudgeon]

13. I'll give it a shot

I'm another terminal civilian, but Dear Old Dad was a Chief for life.

MOS, IIRC, means "Military Occupational Specialty."

--bkl

[aquart]

14. Army job.

God, I loathe jargon.

[Scooter24]

19. link to MOS's

http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/arjobs/blarjobs.htm

That's a listing of the Army MOS's with brief descriptions

[TahitiNut]

3. The "good news" is ...

... according to Army regulations, a soldier cannot be sent to a combat zone in an MOS for which they don't have the requisite training and qualifications. For example, Army regulations prohibit sending a soldier to a combat zone with an 11Bxx ("eleven-bravo") MOS unless they completed AIT (Advanced Infantry Training). (That doesn't stop field commanders from 'drafting' folks from the repo depot at random, however. It's like a press gang.)

So, 90 days notice and 90 days training means 6 months before they go to Iraq, Afghanistan, or the next combat zone.

[Bandit]

26. Since when does the army follow regulations

I am one of those who was in Combat without training for the MOS I was put into. Granted it was thirty-five years ago and things may have changed but they had no problems what-so-ever in changing my MOS and the very next day sending me out in a new job.

[PhuLoi]

28. I was 35L20 (avionics) but ended up pushing bullets. '69-'70

The Army does with you what they will.

[TahitiNut]

30. There's no question that the Army often violates its own regulations.

They always have and they always will - authoritarians and autocrats often eschew their own rules. ("Regulations" in an authoritarian culture tend to be used only in a repressively downhill fashion.)

I had occasion to behave like a "barracks lawyer" when I was ordered/requisitioned to Vietnam under an MOS that would probably assure I'd be relegated to a cannon fodder role, despite not being sent to AIT after basic. (Not that I really think it has other than a cosmetic/socio-political effect.) I fought it and prevailed, delaying my shipment overseas by 2-3 months and assuring I went to a billet that I was qualified to handle. It sure didn't keep me out of combat and it earned me an Article-15-entrapment (you don't fuck with the Army without a backlash).

[saigon68]

4. So get the Fuck out

I did--- anyone still in the service who re-enlists and

those about to sign up are fools

FOOLS---and many of them are bums bullies and psychopaths.

there are a lot of them who love to kill

hoo rah

[Renew Deal]

6. They are going to call you back.

I hope you don't have a commission. They just called back a 68 year old man.

[saigon68]

9. I'd never get a Security clearance

With the shit I've said about these mother fuckers here I'd never get the call.

I'm also 58 years old and they don't want Socialists like me fomenting dissent.

[Jackpine Radical]

20. I'm 59, Saigon. 1st Cav '67-68.

Wouldn't we have fun twisting up the minds of a buncha recruits!

[saigon68]

23. Hi JP -- R

Tan Son Nhut 68-69 uncle emanuels aerial farce -- A23651 combat photographer.

[Bandit]

27. I was 1st Cav also

I was 2nd of the 12th Bravo Co. Same unit as Max Cleland although I never met him and was not there when his accident happened.

[Jackpine Radical]

35. I was in country when Max was wounded, but

had just escaped the infantry into a REMF job when my old unit (2/5) went into Khe Sanh with Max & the 2/12. I guess the Cav units that went in took 25% casualties in 1 week there.

[shanti]

22. wtf??

link?

[atreides1]

32. Partly True

The person in question is a psychiatrist, and he was asked to come back, meaning the choice was his.

He was interviewed yesterday, he said he received a request to return,
and that all he had to do was to send back the card that the Army sent him. He stated that he carried it around for a few days before returning it.

So he didn't have to go, he chose to go, big difference.

[PhuLoi]

29. Three types of "Vets For Bush"

1. Non-combat Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard. Lifers typically.

2. REMFs (Rear Eschelon Mother Fuckers) who never heard a shot fired.

3. Psycopathic assholes who love to kill.

I am not including those liars who simply buy a bumper sticker that says they are veterans.

[saigon68]

33. I KNOW ALL OF THESE TYPES

The scary ones are the psychopaths and the wannabes like Graner.

They love to make a POW piss himself.

There are lot of these 30 to 40 year old type 1 & 2 who LOVE THE CHIMPANZEE

not many old guys like me who got the FUCK OUT after a few years love

the REPUKE SLUGS

or the BUSH CRIMINALS

[Renew Deal]

5. Expanding the infantry?

I bet

[The_Casual_Observer]

7. reassigned to "Operation Iraqi Freedom"??

[pocket]

10. same old same old

I know a bunch of artillery types that have been turned into MPs over the past couple of years, and lots of navy types that get their ratings switched.

[Ouabache]

12. Bush should get an Involuntary Classification

re-assignment to Crawford shit-kicker.

[kclown]

15. I need some serious DU help

About 6 years ago, I took my two sons to my Senator's office
to ask about what qualifications would be necessary for
appointment to a service academy.  We received polite if
generic answers, and I remember telling them, "We'll have
to evaluate the geopolitical situation."

Today, they are 18 and 16.

What in heavens' name can I tell them?  I have showed up at
every big and little anti-war event in the last two years,
with nothing to show for it.  Must they die?

They both are embarrassed by my activism.  I don't care.  In a
strange and perverted fashion, I am actually grateful to * for
the opportunity to show my sons what citizenship is really
about.  This is the definition of cold comfort.

Just wailing.  I'll be in NYC 8/29/04.  Could use some
comfort.  Tell me I'm not crazy.  

[Hekate]

16. You are not crazy; the world around us is

I hope you're making arrangements to meet with DUers while in NYC -- that should be some trip. Good luck and stay safe.

As for your sons, keep on doing what you're doing, and tell them that just because a man is president doesn't mean he's always right. As American citizens one of our highest duties is to question our leaders and not follow them blindly. However if they join the military, most of their civilian freedoms will be abrogated for the duration: don't think for yourself, do what you're told, follow blindly, or suffer bad consequences. Defending our country is one thing -- building an empire for the benefit of wealthy corporations is quite another.

You obviously thought enough of a military career at one time to inquire about the academies with your senator and talk about it with your sons. Are either of your sons trying to follow through now that they are teenagers? If so, they'd have four years of education before being sent anywhere and they'd be officers by then. A lot can change in four years, for good or ill.

They're young and impressionable; they're male and they want to prove their manhood; they're strong and brave. In the end they will make decisions on their own, and you will love them regardless and support them as best you can. Let them know now how much you make a distinction between supporting the troops versus supporting the policies -- because you will go on working for peace, you know you will, and you'll go on being proud of them, you know that too. As for "embarrassing" them now, it's what moms do anyway.

I have a 26 y.o. son and a 28 y.o.daughter, both of whom gave serious thought to joining up to defend our country in the weeks after 9-11. I was so proud of them, and so relieved when they told me they were going to wait and see. My daughter is now expecting her first baby; they both may be of draftable age if/when the draft comes back next year. I talked to him about it a few months ago, and he says he'd go if drafted. He's a lot older than yours so I know he's thought carefully, but it still scares me.

That's all, except some :grouphug: from an older DU mom,

Hekate

[IndianaGreen]

18. Have your sons tell the draft board they are gay

the homophobic military won't even bother to check the veracity of the assertion. I will even write a letter attesting to that "fact".

Don't let your sons become canon fodder for Endless War on Terror.

Better "gay" than dead!

[teryang]

17. "Should have '90 days notice'" vs. will have

This means they can be told to ship out in a few days.

[shanti]

21. first the army

then the rest...this disturbs me as my son is in the AF as an account clerk in germany and i want him to stay right where he is! apparently, nobody is safe now!

[DS1]

24. Damn, that's really bad

Although this is precisely why the USMC sends ~everyone~ through combat training - just in case.

[tabasco]

25. So does the Army.

Basic training is basic training. All troops learn combat skills in basic, then go to further schooling to be clerks, jerks, or grunts. If the Army or Marines want to reclassify a troop, they have to send them to the MOS school for that specialty.
These troops are going to the MOS school, not back to basic training.

[DS1]

31. There's basic, and then a supplemental MCT for a

month of pure grunt training on top of that, for every MOS.

'least there was when I went in...

[tabasco]

34. That month still doesn't qualify a Marine as an infantryman.

- After basic, the Army sends infantry to two months plus of specialized training. So do the Marines.
- If the Marines wanted to reclassify a troop into infantry, they would send them to infantry school just like the Army.
- I don't think anybody is getting reclassed into the infantry, YET.
- I was Army infantry 1986-1996. I worked and trained with Marine grunts and they are GREAT! Highly motivated troops. I pitied them for having to live on those ships for so long. Of course, we lived in the desert, etc., some places where a ship looked pretty good.
- Anyway, the only point I wanted to make is that infantry is a technical skill too and a non-infantry troop in either service is not qualified as a grunt due to basic training.
- Cheers to you my brother. A little inter-service rivalry ain't a bad thing. :toast: