Completed your Military Service? Going Home? Not so fast...

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The Marine Corps will soon begin ordering thousands of its troops back to active duty because of a shortage of volunteers for Iraq and Afghanistan — the first involuntary recall since the early days of the war.

Up to 2,500 Marines will be brought back at a time, and there is no cap on the total number who may be forced back into service as the military helps fight the war on terror. The call-ups will begin in the next several months.

The number of troops in Iraq has climbed back to 138,000 — the prevailing number for much of last year. Troop levels had been declining this year, to a low of about 127,000, amid growing calls from Congress and the public for a phased withdrawal. Escalating violence in Baghdad has led military leaders to increase the U.S. presence there.

This is the first time the Marines have had to use the involuntary recall since the beginning of the Iraq combat. The Army, meanwhile, has issued orders recalling about 10,000 soldiers so far, but many of those may be granted exemptions.

Marine Col. Guy A. Stratton, head of the manpower mobilization section, estimated that there is a current shortfall of about 1,200 Marines needed to fill positions in upcoming deployments.

Some of the military needs, he said, include engineers, intelligence, military police and communications.

As of Tuesday, nearly 22,000 of the 138,000 troops in Iraq were Marines.

The call-up will affect Marines in the Individual Ready Reserve, a segment of the reserves that consists mainly of those who have left active duty but still have time remaining on their eight-year military obligations.

Generally, Marines enlist for four years, then serve the other four years either in the regular Reserves, where they are paid and train periodically, or in the Individual Ready Reserve. Marines in the IRR are obligated to report only one day a year but can be involuntarily recalled to active duty.


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The Pentagon also has extended tours of duty from 12 months to 15 months, barred soldiers who are already deployed from leaving even if they reach the end of their enlistment contract or their retirement date, and called up large numbers of reservists and National Guard troops.

"They've used almost every trick in the book to keep people in, to extend them well beyond their expectations," says Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., a member of the House Armed Services Committee who has been critical of postwar planning by the Bush administration. "It's desperation."

Jeremy Broussard, 27, of Bowie, Md., was not allowed to leave the military after he completed four years of active duty. Due to become inactive in May 2003, he had planned to begin law school last fall at Tulane University in New Orleans. Instead, he had to stay in the Army until November 2003.

Broussard begins law school at Howard University in Washington, D.C., this fall. But he remains eligible for the IRR recall because as an officer he can be recalled until he reaches retirement age or resigns his commission. "As a soldier, I would say this is a sign of desperation and a lack of postwar planning," Broussard says.
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