Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Reserve

[ncguy444]

I am curious as to data that shows what percentage of SMCR were actually activated. Seemed like all the Reserve grunt units went at least once with most going over twice. The support guys tent to not go as a whole unit but rather augment active units in billets that need filled. If I had to guess it had to be at least 95 percent or E4's and below went at least once to either Afghanistan or Iraq. I thought General Conway made it a point to put every Marine at least once in a combat zone. This was to help ensure that some Marines would not have to do multiple tours. Lastly, when you look at numbers you have to look at the size of the branch and by far the USMC is the smallest. I would think with the economy the way it is there would be alot of folks volunteering for whatever duty they could find

[ncguy444]

Almost forgot.. are SMCR considered active on the active roster when they are activated? I thought the reason the numbers swelled to over the 200K mark was due to stop loss, bad economy, bonuses and patriotism due to 9/11. I have a BIG feeling that after all these federal cutbacks coming up concerning the military the Marines are going to be one of biggest hit. The Reseves are a good bang for the buck. I can see the Feds pushing to give them a bigger role in the future which means more field time. Take care

[macjr82]

No SMCR aren't considered on the active roster. The 202K was specifically from the Marine Corps requesting, and being granted by congress an increase in troop strength to increase dwell time for those heavily deployed units. In truth, the Corps actually reached the goal 2 years early and over shot it by a few thousand and has spent the last year on force reduction. Marine recruiters are only allowed to enlist on average 1 person a month. A lot guys on the active side want to stay in and can't. A lot are trying to get back in and can't.

FY10 MANPOWER UPDATE (http://www.marines.mil/news/messages/Pages/MARADMIN025-10.aspx - broken link)

There are rumors of the Corps eventually dropping to about 145k active forces, but the commandant has stated that he will not reduce troop strength while we are in Afghanistan. General Conway made it a point to give every Marine the opportunity to deploy, thi was done trhough individual augements and standing up of task forces from non-deployable stations like the ones in the National Capital Region. These largley consited of Marines volunteering who had not yet had a chance to deploy.

Task Force NCR Deployment | Special Projects | News & Messenger
Quantico Sentry - Messages for Families, Friends, Supporters of Task Force National Capital Region
http://www.quantico.usmc.mil/tfncr/w...er%20final.pdf

As far as percentage of reservists activated total, I don't know. Ther has been about 57K activated since 9/11, but as I stated before, that includes SMCR, IRR, and IMA which numbers about 100K at any given time. To that number you have to factor in the number of people who joined an got out during that period, the number of peopel that were activatde only to serve stateside, while an AD unit deployed. I imagine that infantry reserve units have deployed more than other reserve units, just like AD infantry units have. Specially from 2003-2006 when Al Anbar was hot in Iraq. The Marines aren't even Iraq anymore, as far as units deployed. The thing is, there are no infantry units in NC, the closest you come to is a tank unit in Jacksonville, but it relatively new and I think is still non-deployable until another 2-5 years. The unit in Charlotte is a maintenance unit.

To your 95% E4 or below, that is way off base. I have no numbers, but I find it hard to believe that high of reservists would experience deployment when less than half of active forces have. Then again, the National Guard, combat arms units especially, have seen more deployments for a longer period of time than active forces have.

[slingshot]

This is an old thread but the info might be beneficial to someone else. Keep in mind that as an un-deployed reservist your benefits after your sevice is over will be almost zero. Until you are deployed all of your active duty time will be considered as training. In some circles you will not even be considered a veteran. My advice is to go regular, regardless of branch of service.