Pat Denny
On August 22, the Pentagon announced that it had issued an involuntary call-up of Marine reservists. Those affected by what has been described as a "backdoor draft" are members of the Individual Ready Reserve — reservists who for the most part are no longer on active duty and under normal circumstances would not expect to be returned to duty. The Marines are expected to be deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq
According to an August 23 report by Britain's Times, under the order up to 2500 Marines can be "brought back to active duty at any one time, but there is no limit on how many may be forced back into service in the coming years or how long the call-up may last ...
"The order is the first time that the Marine Corps have been forced to resort to an involuntary summons since the ground invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Army, far worse hit by recruiting shortfalls, has ordered around 14,000 inactive servicemen and women back to duty since the war in Iraq began."
The order allows the Marine Corps to involuntarily call up reservists until the end of the "war on terror".
At an August 23 White House press briefing, Dana Perino told reporters that the Pentagon will "be taking volunteers first, and then going to involuntary action, if necessary. This does reflect the fact that we're in a long and difficult struggle."
There are currently some 138,000 US troops in Iraq according to an August 23 USA Today report, 13,000 more than earlier in the year. More than 2600 US troops have died in Iraq.