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Lisa Pagan, of Davidson, North Carolina, reported for duty Monday morning at Fort Benning, Georgia, with her two preschool children. She had been honorably discharged from active duty nearly four years ago but was recalled as part of the Individual Ready Reserve program. The former Army truck driver asked for a reprieve from deployment because her husband travels for business and they would have no one to care for their children if she was sent overseas. Until Monday, her request had been denied.

Dr. Everett Spees, a cardiothoracic surgeon at several local hospitals who helped to develop the field of organ transplants, was a bit startled to find the Army calling, asking if he'd volunteer. A retired colonel, he'd offered his services on the day after Sept. 11, 2001, but no one called back for more than two years -- after the military was thoroughly embroiled in Iraq and needing more soldiers.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 31, 2005 – More than 11,000 Army and Air National Guard members and 7,200 active-duty troops, mostly Navy, are supporting hurricane relief operations along the Gulf Coast, and 10,000 more National Guard troops are expected to join the effort within the next 48 hours, Defense Department officials said today. Army Lt. Gen. H Steven Blum, chief of the National Guard Bureau, told Pentagon reporters today the additional troops, who hail from 13 states outside the region, will be evenly divided between the hardest-hit states, Mississippi and Louisiana. There, he said, they will augment forces already on the ground...

...for duties on the Katrina-ravaged Gulf CoastBreaking. Details to follow.

Michael Paterson was 45 years old when his Navy Reserve unit arrived in Iraq. He was virtually at the end of his Navy career. Paterson was more than a little surprised when he discovered he wouldn't be based at some rear area hospital where he could practice his advanced skills. He was headed to the front lines. His brothers in arms were the same age as his children. The other hospital corpsmen called him "Grandpa," and it was true. He had young grandchildren at home. When Paterson deployed into Iraq in 2003 with "follow-on" forces just behind the main invasion...

600 Rio Grnade Valley Guardsmen of the 3rd Battalion, 141st Inf Regiment of the 36th Inf Division of the Texas Army National Guard received their call up orders to report to Fort Hood in March for possible deployment to Afghanistan in the War on Terror. The Weslaco-based unit includes Guardsmen from Laredo to Brownsville, and is the first time the whole battalion has been called up since WWII. The above link is to the TV station broadcast only.

WASHINGTON - Stretched thin by the wars in Iraq (news - web sites) and Afghanistan (news - web sites), the Army is considering a National Guard and Reserve policy shift that could result in part-timers being called to active duty multiple times for up to two years each time, a senior Army official said Thursday. The official, who discussed the matter with a small group of reporters on condition of anonymity because the matter has not been fully settled inside the Pentagon (news - web sites), said the Army probably will ask Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in the next...

LEBANON, Pa. (AP) - This is what Frank Ryan is bringing with him to Iraq: Fourteen pairs of socks, 10 pairs of underwear, eight uniforms, and an alarm clock with his son Matthew's picture in it. Four razors, the lubricated kind for dry shaving, a knife, one sweater, two hats, long thermal underwear for sleeping and more family photos on a CD. And that's not to mention the venison jerky for instant protein from Jan and Chuck Soulliard, friends from the post office. Ryan is a 53-year-old retired Marine colonel with 32 years of active and reserve duty under his...

Dr. John Caulfield thought it had to be a mistake when the Army asked him to return to active duty. After all, he's 70 years old and had already retired - twice. He left the Army in 1980 and private practice two years ago. "My first reaction was disbelief," Caulfield said. "It never occurred to me that they would call a 70-year-old." In fact, he was so sure it was an error that he ignored the postcards and telephone messages asking if he would be willing to volunteer for active duty to "backfill" somewhere on the East Coast, Europe or...

PITTSBURGH - About 2,400 Pennsylvania National Guard soldiers will be sent to Iraq in what could be the state's largest deployment since World War II. The call-up will affect nearly every community in the state and about 15 percent of the 16,000 soldiers in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard, said Col. Harry Coulter, who will command a composite of units called the Second Brigade Combat Team. The Air National Guard will not be affected. "I would clearly say this is the largest single mobilization since" World War II, Capt. Cory Angell, a Pennsylvania National Guard public affairs officer, told the...

Grandpa's headed to Iraq NEWS WIRE SERVICES Thursday, November 25th, 2004 PHILADELPHIA - A 53-year-old Vietnam veteran has been called up for active service with the U.S. military in the Iraq war. Paul Dunlap, a sergeant in the Army National Guard, will join an armored division next month as a telecommunications specialist in Kuwait and expects to be there for at least a year, reported the Tribune-Review newspaper of Greensburg, Pa. Dunlap, who has not been in combat since serving as a 19-year-old Marine in Vietnam, could not be reached for comment. He will leave behind his wife, Mary; four...

...Thomas is among a group of soldiers age 50 and over being called to active duty . Like many, he is a "citizen soldier," a member of the National Guard or Reserves, where soldiers serve part-time. They tend to be older than their active-duty counterparts and are increasingly being deployed overseas to augment active-duty troops. Of the 160,000 men and women deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, 4,119 are 50 or older. At a time in life when most people are looking forward to retirement or eyeing Florida real estate, these soldiers are leaving behind corporate jobs and grandkids. Some even...

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Army, now mobilizing 5,600 former soldiers from a rarely used personnel pool to go to Iraq and Afghanistan, plans to summon a similar number next year for duty in those war zones, a senior official said Friday. To plug shortfalls in certain skills in units being deployed, the Army has tapped the Individual Ready Reserve, made up of 111,000 people who have completed voluntary military commitments and have returned to civilian life but remain eligible to be mobilized in a national emergency. The Army said about 3,900 of the 5,600 IRR soldiers scheduled to be summoned...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, now mobilizing 5,600 former soldiers from a rarely used personnel pool to go to Iraq and Afghanistan, plans to summon a similar number next year for duty in those war zones, a senior official said on Friday. The Army also said it plans to step up recruitment efforts to try to meet goals to sign up 80,000 new soldiers for the regular Army and 22,000 for the Army Reserve in the fiscal year that began on Friday. The Army recruiting command's chief acknowledged the wars were deterring some potential recruits. To plug shortfalls in...

PITTSBURG, Kan. - A rally for a Kansas National Guard unit headed overseas as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom drew about 2,000 people, displaying what one attendee called "a level of patriotism today that we haven't seen since World War II." "I am proud of all of the soldiers that are being deployed," added Fort Scott Mayor Gary Billionis. The Tuesday night rally was for Pittsburg-based Company A of the 891st Engineer Battalion. The unit's Company B is from Coffeyville, and the battalion headquarters is in Iola. In all, about 500 soldiers are involved in the deployment. They will train...

I hope I'm doing this right -- it may be interesting to those of you follow military affairs closely. There's an article at the Army Times website, saying the FORSCOM commander is recommending that we consider calling up four more National Guard combat brigades for the war on terrorism. It sounds like the call-up, if it happens, won't occur this year. No one will be surprised about this -- though the Kerry campaign might try to go ape-sh** if they think it will give them a headline for a day or so. They'll claim it's a secret plan, though it's...

ANCHORAGE--An Alaska Army National Guard unit is among dozens nationwide called to involuntary active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, state military officials said Friday. It's the first time an infantry unit from Alaska has been pressed into federal involuntary service since World War II, officials said. "This is an important, historic event," said Lt. Col. Mike Bridges, deputy commander of 207th Infantry Group, which oversees the unit called. "We've had units and individuals from the Alaska National Guard serve in Iraq and Afghanistan and Kuwait previously, but not infantry units," said Major Mike Haller, a Guard spokesman. About 130 Juneau-based...

By Howard Wilkinson Enquirer staff writer MOUNT ORAB - Eight years ago, when Jim Dillinger resigned his captain's commission in the Ohio National Guard after almost 17 years of service, he thought his turn as a citizen-soldier had come to an end. At last, Dillinger thought, he could start moving up the ladder in his civilian career as a plant safety officer. He and his wife, Tammy, could concentrate on raising their three children and watching them grow. Dillinger was wrong. Jim Dillinger has received military paperwork calling for him to return to service. (Enquirer photo/MICHAEL E. KEATING) On a...

A veteran US soldier is suing the Defence Department over its plans to forcibly extend his reservist's contract and send him to Iraq. The man, known by the pseudonym John Doe, has been with the army for nine years and last year served in Iraq. He took on a one-year reservist contract after returning to the US and may now be required to return to Iraq under the army's "stop-loss" policy. Thousands of soldiers' tours of duty have been stretched under the policy. Mr Doe's contract was due to have expired in December this year. But the summoning of...

'Go For Broke' Reservists mobilize with Hawaii National Guard By Joe Burlas and John RunyanAugust 3, 2004 WASHINGTON (Army News Service, Aug. 3, 2004) -- One of the Army's most decorated units and the Army Reserve's only ground combat unit is prepping for mobilization and eventual deployment to Iraq. The 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, Army Reserve, will round out the Hawaii National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade as it mobilizes Aug. 16 and moves to Fort Bliss, Texas, by the end of the month for deployment training, per Department of Defense mobilization orders signed July 16. The Army...