t’s time to clear up some confusion about President Joe Biden’s recent executive order for Operation Atlantic Resolve: The president is not deploying more troops to Europe yet, nor has he called up anyone from the Individual Ready Reserve.
The executive order allows the Defense Department to mobilize troops from the Select Reserve and the Individual Ready Reserve for operations in Europe. Members of the Individual Ready Reserve have left active duty and they do not drill but still have time on their obligation to serve.
Since the executive order was released on Thursday, many social media users have assumed Biden is mobilizing hundreds if not thousands of members of the Individual Ready Reserve for combat deployments to Europe. The feeling of unease is especially palpable among veterans who have recently left active duty and would still have time remaining on their eight year military service obligation.
However, the executive order is an administrative action, and no one has been tasked to deploy yet, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman.
In essence, the executive order places caps on the types of reserve component forces that could deploy to Europe if needed: Up to 3,000 troops, of which no more than 450 can come from the Individual Ready Reserve, Ryder said.
“It doesn’t mean, for example, that 3,000 reservists will be called up, or 450 IRR [Individual Ready Reserve members] will be called up,” Ryder told Task & Purpose. “It just means those are the parameters which DoD can use.”
The executive order derives its authority in part from Title 10 of the U.S. Code — the compilation of federal statutes — which, if fully implemented, authorizes up to 200,000 reservists to be mobilized at any one time, of which up to 30,000 can be from the Individual Ready Reserve.
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Bugs Marlowe
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