843 ex-soldiers fail to report for duty

[RebelYell]

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.

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http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/10/22/us.armycall.up.ap/index.html

Edited to correct typo in subject

[tabasco]

1. Don't worry, there won't be a draft.

They're calling up old farts from the IRR but the manpower situation is just fine. Yeah, that's the ticket.

If Bush is elected, the rest of the IRR will be called up and there WILL be a draft. The military has a manpower crisis and anyone who trusts Bush's claim to keep a volunteer force is insane. There would be an emergency event which would cause Bush to say it "changed everything" (again!) and start conscription.