I met some new IRR's arriving in town today and was surprised to learn that civilian law enforcement officers are curiously over-represented in the mix.  The Army's reserve components require all soldiers to update their civilian employment information yearly.  It’s the law.  The stated intent is to ensure that individuals in certain critical skills specialties like law enforcement, paramedics and firefighters, are identified so as not to leave the communities that depend on these first responders without proper service. In fact, (got to love the internet) I just found the quote:

"One of the key intents of this program is to help employers and DoD better identify those Army Reserve Soldiers with civilian jobs which are essential to maintaining national health, safety and homeland defense," said Maj. David Limmer, project manager for the Civilian Skills database at HRC-St. Louis.

Examples include police officers, fire fighters and other "first responders," he said.

It also helps the military ensure that its assets are used to the fullest extent and to develop career paths in the military which are more consistent with civilian career momentum," he said. "Overall, the key is to improve communication between the military and civilian employers"

If your crap detection alarm hasn't sounded yet it's time to get it re-calibrated.  Governors and legislators have been hammering the Defense Department for gutting police departments by mobilizing officers, troopers and deputies for multiple and/or extended deployments.  If the spirit of this law was to protect those agencies and the citizens they serve, it backfired.  Instead, civilian skills make persons in the categories listed above more selectable for deployment as individuals--especially from the IRR.  Let’s face it, cops are a hot commodity in theater.

I admit it, this is my own personal opinion based on anecdotal rather than empirical evidence.  But it is persuasive.

Earlier last year I was running a web search on IRR issues and ran across a document from a conference on IRR mobilizations.  My first surprise was that there was a need for an IRR conference in the first place but my mobilization orders were a clue.  One of the issues was whether or not emergency responders, like police or paramedics for example, would be exempted from mobilization due to being critical to homeland defense.  The decision listed stated that no, there was no need for an exemption as the National Guard was available to each state to assist with managing crisis.  I wonder if the level of National Guard and Army Reserve mobilizations were accounted for before reaching this conclusion.  The Spirit of the law and the Letter of the law are clearly two distinct entities and a decision was made somewhere to go with the latter.

The buzz right now is that we are preparing to focus more on training and advising as the Iraqi security forces take on more of the direct combat role.  I read reports recommending that the number of advisers be doubled or tripled.  I have to admit, this would be a good step for many reasons but who will do the training?  Will it be career Regular Army Officers and their units or National Guard units with a bunch of IRR’s thrown together for a few months before deployment?  And who will advise the Iraqi Police?  Military Police have an entirely different skill set and are over-tasked with other priorities right now.  The reserve components have the only readily available source of trained civilian law enforcement officers that can be ordered anywhere, unlike civilian contractors or even the Justice Department.  My guess is that the answer has already been determined.

A lot of IRR officers and NCO’s are finding themselves headed for AST’s in charge of training missions in Iraq.  We really must be running out of troops when we ship out the IRR to play such a pivotal role in reshaping Iraq’s security. 

Incidentally, a lot of soldiers I know are getting emails on AKO to update their civilian skill information right now.