Outside the Beltway

IRR Call-Up Scam II

James Joyner
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Kevin Drum, via Nick Confessore, has the actual memorandum behind all of this at Political Animal.

Aside from the political and ethical issues that I’ve discussed before, the whole thing seems rather odd to me. Most notably, because the memo is in OPORD/WARNORD format rather than just a regular memorandum. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen that used for anything other than purely tactical situations. Then again, my experience was at the company grade level and a dozen years ago; maybe they’re doing things differently now.

I’ve e-mailed a few guys who might know more about this and should have feedback by the morning. Anyone with any clues on this is free to add to the discussion in the comments section.

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3 responses to “IRR Call-Up Scam II”

  1. Mike Avatar
    Mike

    Greetings,

    Yes, OPORD / WARNO / FRAGO are used in a tactical environment. Administrative actions happen with a Memorandum. 22 years served at all levels of organization in the military.

    Regards,
    Mike

  2. jeremy Avatar
    jeremy

    just a note, it’s becoming more common for admin types who want to feel a little more ‘rambo’ to utilize the OPORD format when doing everything from a change of command to a QTB (quarterly training brief). recently, it’s become almost a norm to put everything in OPORD format.

  3. in the irr Avatar
    in the irr

    Despite the Army’s admission of the “scam,” (or “miscommunication” as they called it) IRR call ups are STILL happening, and IRR members are STILL being manipulated into joining reserve units before they get called up involuntarily.

    Granted, the IRR call ups are still relatively small in number, but several IRR members who call HRC get told by HRC officials that more call ups are coming.

    Public Affairs may be scrambling to cover their behinds after some newspapers uncovered the manipulation tactics used by savvy recruiters to get IRR members to join voluntarily and pick their own unit rather than waiting for orders that sends them to Iraq…. but the bottom line is that recruiters and career counselors are STILL using these tactics, and the people who answer the phones at HRC are STILL telling IRR members that they are “definitely vulnerable” and should consider a pre-emptive strike of their own by joining a unit in the hopes of having some “control over your own destiny.”

    Apparently, these personnel who are handling the call-ups (voluntary and otherwise) haven’t been told about the newspaper articles that claim it’s all a scam.

    The articles exposing the “scam” and the officials at HRC that I have spoken to are saying completely opposite things.

    —

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