Former US soldiers recalled

2004-06-30 20:07

Washington - The US Army plans to recall around 5 600 former soldiers for support and logistical duty in Iraq, resorting to a rarely used wartime programme that allows it to recall soldiers who have left the service but did not join the reserves, The New York Times said on Wednesday.

The recall has been criticised by some members of the US Congress, where proposals to expand the Army are being debated, as an unofficial draft and a sign that the US military deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan is insufficient.

The US pool of former officers and soldiers known as Individual Ready Reserve is made up of honourably discharged army personnel who served less than eight years on active duty and still have obligations under the contracts they signed when they joined the services, the daily said.

US Defence Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, authorised the Army to reach into the Individual Ready Reserve - it does not apply to the Navy and the Air Force - in January, but the specifics of the recall were approved in recent days, said the daily quoting Pentagon officials.

The 5 600 recalled soldiers will perform support and logistical jobs like truck drivers, mechanics, administrative specialists, food service workers, engineers and military police work, said a Pentagon official.

They will be recalled for yearlong tours mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official said.

Rumsfeld on Sunday said that General George Casey, who was confirmed by the US Senate last week as the new head of the multinational force in Iraq, had made it clear that if he needed more troops he would ask for them, and that planning for possible deployments was underway.

The United States had already boosted its troop levels in Iraq from 113 000 to 141 000 over the past three or four months, Rumsfeld noted.

- AFP