The Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) is a category of the Ready Reserve of the Reserve Component of the Armed Forces of the United States composed of former active duty or reserve military personnel, and is authorized under 10 U.S.C. ch. 1005. As of 22 June 2004, the IRR had approximately 112,000 members (does not include all service IRR populations) composed of enlisted personnel and officers, with more than 200 Military Occupational Specialties are represented, including combat arms, combat support, and combat service support.
An individual assigned to the IRR typically receives no pay and is not obligated to drill, conduct annual training, or participate in any military activities (except for periodic Muster activities) until activated by Presidential Reserve Callup Authority or until electing to drill, train, or serve in an "Active Duty" role. As there is no such category as "inactive" reserves, IRR soldiers are members of the Ready Reserve and they retain their status as soldiers, their military specialty (i.e. Military Police, Military Intelligence, etc.) and rank. IRR soldiers receive benefits similar to other members of the reserve components of the Armed Forces to include: Entitlement to a Military ID Card, ID Cards for their dependents, PX/BX (Exchange) benefits, Commissary benefits, and MWR (Morale Welfare and Recreation) Benefits. (Note: These benefits are only available to IRR Members in the "CONUS" 48 States.) An individual assigned to the IRR may receive pay and full benefits (including medical care and dental care for member and dependents) for voluntarily performing specific types of active duty. Because members of the IRR rarely serve on extended active duty and are not retired from military service, most are not eligible for medical care from DoD or VA. Currently, neither DoD nor VA has responsibility for health care of IRR members.
By law, IRR members are required to retain possession of their service uniforms, retain their military identification card, and notify their service branch if they move and change their address.
Upon being called up, service members will usually be screened for their medical and personal status in order to qualify or disqualify them for activation. During the process, IRR members who seek to delay, defer, or exempt their activations have the opportunity to present their case to the mobilization authority for a decision.
An enlisted service member's IRR service ends after the completion of their mandatory service obligation (MSO), usually 8 years.
The Individual Ready Reserve, Selected Reserve, and Inactive National Guard comprise the three Ready Reserve programs.
Read more about Individual Ready Reserve: Callup Authority and Activation, Activations in The War On Terror, Delay, Deferment, & Exemption (DD&E)
Famous quotes containing the words individual, ready and/or reserve:
“To name oneself is the first act of both the poet and the revolutionary. When we take away the right to an individual name, we symbolically take away the right to be an individual. Immigration officials did this to refugees; husbands routinely do it to wives.”
—Erica Jong (b. 1942)
“He who is ready to despair in solitary peril, plucks up a heart in the presence of another. In a plurality of comrades is much countenance and consolation.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“If a walker is indeed an individualist there is nowhere he can’t go at dawn and not many places he can’t go at noon. But just as it demeans life to live alongside a great river you can no longer swim in or drink from, to be crowded into safer areas and hours takes much of the gloss off walking—one sport you shouldn’t have to reserve a time and a court for.”
—Edward Hoagland (b. 1932)