It would appear that at best...he was in the Army reserves for maybe two years....before the deployment situation where they hustled him out of Afghanistan and giving him walking papers.
There are probably hundreds of five-year PFCs from the past couple of decades though....he’s just not one of them.
I read the Army has 10k gang members they go in to learn combat.
Yup. IRR is where they park you when you’re done serving but still have a technical obligation for the rest of your 8- year commitment. Or where some reservists go if they can’t pull duty due to civilian obligations, and many return to the active reserves when their schedule permits.