Does this strike anyone else as weird?

Question

my aunt who retired from the army ten years ago and is now 43 years old has just been told she is going to iraq for 9 months while my uncle a career soldier is now sitting at a desk in the middle of texas

sorry she didnt retire colby she just didnt re-up

Answer 1

Was your Aunt an officer or enlisted? What was her MOS or Career Field? Same questions for you uncle. Also has your uncle been deployed to Iraq yet? If so When? These and other questions may shed light on why she is going and he is staying.

Answer 2

If she went into the reserves after she got out of active duty she may be on their reserve rosters. Officers are handled a little differently and the Reserves do not have retirement at 20 years service, they can serve until age 55. Medical officers are in high demand and medical can serve to a much higher age than any other officer field. They've recalled old Dr. Colonels, one was 73, been out for like 20 years. But he is serving stateside, not in Iraq, so that a younger doctor could be sent from the the hospital he is working at. It is possible, too, that she did not resign her commission on paper, so the Reserves still have her in service. There was a case of that a couple of years ago.
There are routes and appeals that can be made if there was an error in her call-up such as her not being taken off the rolls or she didn't complete her resignation paperwork.
But it is possible to call up because they need people with certain skills and they don't have the time to train new ones in those skill that take so many years of schooling. Better someone they already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to train.
And its not a "backdoor draft", its in the contracts that personnel are subject to recall for a certain number of years after their release. You sign the line, you do the time.

Answer 3

Just to clear this up His Aunt is MY Sister. She was not 13 when she entered the army she was 18 and served for 15 years putting her out at the age of 33. She then served five more years in the reserves putting her out of the reserves at 38 more than five years ago. Any one who thinks you have to do "twenty" to retire is wrong. You can leave you hitch as soon as your obligation usually two years is up. She left after 15 years. She served in Desert Storm. She has been back door drafted.

She has a degree in Nursing and specializes in pschyraic care and it was determined that this is a "specialize skill" and she was pulled in. She did not volunteer and apparently cannot say no. (She is in a double bind as far as saying no since her husband is career Man and any waves she makes would hurt him)

It is about time we realized that stuff like this is going on. Same thing with folks in the National Guard they get sent to Iraq and regular army soldiers sit in Germany and Japan. There is a lot here that doe snot make sense, but not making sense and not being true are not the same thing

Answer 4

It depends on how your aunt 'retired'. Her age at 43 has nothing to do with it.

If she was 'active duty' before and retired from active duty she automatically became a member of the 'inactive reserves'. Typically these 'inactive reserves' can only be called up in case of emergency.

If however, she retired from active duty and then joined the Army National Guard in her state or Army Reserve, then she is considered an 'active reserve' member. In that case, it doesn't really take any sort of special emergency...a guard or reserve unit can be called up at any time. In case of emergency within the state, the state governor can even call up the National Guard units. If her unit was activated or if her MOS was needed in Iraq, they can call her up.

Your uncle may or may not go...depends on if his unit is called up or if a person in his MOS is needed to fill in with another unit or not. Seems like he's sitting in Texas right now because he either has a medical non-deployability waiver, or his unit hasn't been sent there, or his MOS is not needed there.

Answer 5

sounds like bullshit. Someone has lied to you. They cannot send someone to Iraq involunarily after they have been out of the service that long. Initally when you are discharged you go into the IRR. You are only in there for 2 years, definitly not 10. If she is in fact going to Iraq, then she volunteered and must have a critical MOS....and as the others said above, kinda hard to have served for 20 years if she was only 33 when she "retired." By the way, you have to have 20 years to retire. At the age of 33 the most she could have possibly had would have been 15 years.

Answer 6

Permanent Retirement is not a release from service but the inactive continuation of service (like the reserve). If she is found fit for duty she can be recalled. Also, even your uncle is serving Iraq (though not in it yet).

Answer 7

How could your 43 year old aunt have retired after 20 years of service and having been retired for 10 years already ? Do the math. So no it doesn't strike me as weird, just impossible.

Answer 8

Well, the kid my sister is with has just been hanging around here with nothing to do (other then a job)--they are 22--and I wonder why the Army isn't putting him to use while they complain about lack of enlistments and calling back older people that long left active service behind...

Answer 9

Well if you aunt retired 10 years about then she would of been 33 and it take 20 years to retire so she would have had to join when she was 13 hahahah. Im sorry but someone is lieing to you.

Answer 10

Not weird, but kind of curious! Is she some kind of "babe"? Maybe they plan to use her like Mata Hari or Tokyo Rose? Would she look good in a burka?

Just kidding! You obviously have erroneous information, or someone is pulling your leg.