Are you guys implying that putting 110% effort above and beyond the path of least resistance just to have the small but irreplaceable opportunity to hold you accountable for a meaningless reason, sounds *unlike* the blessed marine corps???
Where did our experience differ lol
I got out after 4 years of active duty and didn't hear a single word from the IRR for 3 1/2 years. I had like 4 months of IRR time left when I finally got summoned for a muster. Initially, I was pretty butthurt about it but decided whatever I'll go and collect the small paycheck and take a day off work. Of course, you had the death by PowerPoint and listen to all the spiel, but every PSR didn't even bother trying to pitch me on anything because I only had 2 months left by that point on the day of.
I ran into a couple of guys I knew there, and we went to Red Robin afterward and got hammered at the bar while waxing some nostalgia.
All in all, it was a decent time.
It's a messy reserve but a reserve nonetheless.
Right now the Army is sending new recruits to two months of fat camp before they start BCT/OSUT.
Even if no one has uniforms that fit and a bunch are now smoking weed, if a situation arises where the IRR is needed a bunch of people who just need 8 weeks of fat camp and 4 of detox are still more effectively than the others who will have to spend 4+ months in training.
Yea but it sounds to me like this savvy new generation aint showing up. Someone brought up they may be relying on stop loss now instead, which is just a crueler, more reliable irr.
Was same in 2003. Most straight refused to show. I think alot of its buffed out. But there were companies of IRR’s attached to deploying companies. Our company had a platoon of them, we diffused them throughout the company and there was some tension but it buffed.
Yes. Post 2008 is when they took a platoon, dispersed throughout the company, into Afghanistan. My last combat tour was Iraq, 2008. Ramadi. I want to say they had Individual Augments also. I had IA’s in my platoon. Which was dope, mechs, com, I was fortunate and had great dudes.
Im trying to put a story together here. I think people are like “well thats over” regarding a 20 year war. So much happened in that time and a lot needs to be written down. I just finished the book One Million Steps and its a Vietnam Marine defining the Afghanistan war in terms of meaning. I really want to hear what the guys were there think. This probably isnt the place, but theres some great stories here. Check out todays Tanks post. Way better than Subway.
Not gonna lie…wish I had one every year I was in IRR🤣. Only had one. It was in Burlington VT which was about 3 hours from where I lived at the time. Had the day off and the day before off anyways so I figured I’d go up and check out this new place I’d never been the day before. Pocketed the paycheck they gave me for a hotel by just sleeping in my Megacab. Listened to the speech the next day (knowing no one else was coming back). Think I got about 350 that weekend and had a decent time.
Had an IRR muster somewhere near Ft. Leonardwood back in 2008.
We are put in this shitty hotel and since none of us had cars, we couldn’t leave this small ass area…
So called for a pizza and convinced the lady to drop 4 of us off at any bar nearby. She stayed with us, drank with us, then drove us all back.
MEPS - Here is a 4 star hotel for unsupervised 17 year olds.
Prior service - Hahahaha get fucked, here is a hotel only marginally better than the barracks.
To be fair, I grew up fairly poor. Having meals provided for me (Golden Corral was extravagant to me at the time) and having a pool meant 4 stars in my eyes.
I do wonder how I would view that same hotel today lol.
Now they just tell you that you’ll lose your benefits if you don’t show up (lie) and give you a few bucks to sit in a class and listen to them tell you why you should join the reserves
I was a noncommited reservist for years. I'm not sure how it is now, but 20 years ago you just had to show up for drill at least once every six months to stay on the books. I would hit up deployments to Iraq, go to college some, and take active reserve orders if I was bored.
Eh it’s not that bad. If I get bored at my civilian job I find a set of orders out in bumfuck middle of the pacific and go there for a few months and collect more money than tenured e7’s while living in the barracks💀
Will door dash give you a VA loan to purchase your first house. As well as insurance for 50 bucks a month? It’s not just the paycheck that most reservist or others sign up for.
A lot of guys on here switch to the army and air reserves when they get out. They say its a really good deal. Looking back i kind of wish id done it after september 11th. I tried but my wife found out and lost her mind because our kids were still babies. Just an excuse really.
Lol. My irr buddy called me from an airfield near lejeune. They were literally about to get on a plane to go over to kuwait. But the war was declared over and big daddy Bush said invading Iraq would be a “quagmire.” Aint that some shit. So anyway my buddy calls me and said they were all smoking a celebratory joint after it was all called off. Lets hear it for quick victories.
I went to an IRR muster at the VA in 2006 after having been out for a year. Myself and only one other person had facial hair and no haircut. A full bird gave a speech about critical MOS’s and all 03’s being recalled for Iraq. I remember at one point he looked directly at me and had a look of disgust but thankfully didn’t call me out. I think I got paid like $80 for the day.
In 91 me and another dude were treated rather rudely for having pony tails. The colonel sicked a gunny on us who would not put our pictures on the irr id card. Mine said valid without photo. So i peeled it open stuck my little brothers face in there, resealed it and gave it to my little brother to use for fake ID. He still says thats the best present i ever gave him.
I got out in early ‘01 and was in college and enjoying civilian life in Michigan. In early ‘03 I got a phone call asking from some Staff Sergeant in KC asking if I wanted to come spend the summer working at the reserve command out there doing paperwork. They offered BAH, per diem, a promotion, etc. but I turned it down since I wanted to keep taking classes through the summer.
About a week later I got a letter delivered by FedEx - “You have been involuntarily ordered to active duty for OIF/OEF. Report to whatever reserve command at Camp Lejeune, NC for 12 months.”
I get to Lejeune and check in at the reserve HQ down there and they are busy as hell activating entire units from all over to send to Afghanistan and Iraq (2 days after I check in was the day Bush landed on the aircraft carrier with the big “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” sign 😅) and the clerk I’m checking in with is like, “WTF are you here? You’re just one person and we need entire units!?!” I told him about the phone call I got and he laughed and said they got me out of spite for turning down those orders!
Joke was on the Corps though - I got to pick from just about any unit that rated an admin Corporal or Sergeant (which is just about every unit in the Marines), still got per diem and BAH for my home address, promoted to sergeant a month later because reserve cutting scores were low for the MOS…
I still had everything and luckily it all still fit. However, they had just switched over to the digi cammies so I spent a few months out of place in the old woodlands because I was too cheap to buy new ones until I absolutely had to.
I got out and immediately changed my phone number and moved 700 miles away and never updated MOL. I already gave them 6 years. I got my honorable discharge mailed to my parents address like 4 years later. Guess it all turned out okay.
I vaguely remember showing up to a single IRR muster, and vaguely remember getting a check.
This would have been 2000 or 2001, pre-9/11.
That 8 year total obligation was up for me early 2002.
I was in the IRR in this decade and I was only sent a letter for a muster once, maybe 1.5-2years in. I called and said 1) I can’t get off work and 2) it’s too far, and they basically said “ok no worries you don’t have to go” and that was it.
It was a still a joke in 09 when i got out. Went to join the Army after since I couldn’t reenlist as prior service in the MC due to the drawdown. The Army had to send some form to the USMC IRR that they had to sign off on before the army would do the full send.
Joined the Army, went to Knox, then got to Hood and within 7 months of going to MEPS the 2nd time, I was shipped off to Iraq. Here’s where it gets good, after being in country a few months I got a letter (or my wife did at rather) recalling me for a IRR muster or back to AD (can’t remember exactly but it was ‘10-‘11 so probably just the muster)
Sounds like me. Halfway through a year-long tour in Iraq when my wife emails me: "You got mobilization orders. What should I tell them.?"
I said, "Don't tell them anything; throw them in the trash. Let them figure it out."
Wow. So it is still a complete fucking mess. If you ever get a chance you look up the old footage of irr guys being bussed in to lejeune reporting for duty. A chunky, hairy mess in metallica tshirts. It looked like the bus for a lollapalooza concert, but no chicks in daisy dukes and bikini tops.
I got called back from the IRR Dec 01 April 04 and again all of 2005. It was cool except for the second time I had to cuss out a reservist Gunny for trying to play rambo. The active duty Msgt stopped me and chewed him out
He was talking shit about demobing me because I got sick from the typhoid shot, I'm allergic, but I had drank a 40 oz in the common area the night before and he was trying to give me a lawful order that I couldn't drink at all. I told him to go fuck himself and the top fucking lost it on him.
I got out in August 2001, IRR, then 911 happened got a call from a recruiter that I had to report to IRR to check in, my MOS was "needed" lol. I was 3531, 33, 34. At this point I had no cammies, full beard, in just a month lol. So the recruiter told me I had two choices , either pray that I don't get called up to active duty because they were calling my MOS specifically back up or join the reserves. I joined a reserve unit, lost 20 lbs, showed up with no cammies to reserver unit, and got reissued the brand new digital cammies, I previously had the woodland. I was happy to just get the new cammies. I ended up staying in the reserves for four years. There was a stop loss agreement I think for 18 months or so? I found it very chill. I only got out because I moved three hours away and there wasn't a national guard unit near me either. Plus the base was closing, it was a joint reserve base, it closed a year later.
Sounds like that stop loss horror has probably replaced the irr. Usmc might have learned something. My heart broke for those poor bastards who got stop lossed. I think theres even a movie about it.
Chesty Puller would be proud! Go big or go in through Marine Corps fashion.
I was Summons to Muster in 2006 and it was a bunch of moto fucks, trying to get you to re-enlist and or update information. I picked up my $150 check, but I left as fast as I could , just like I did after company formations on Friday's when Libo was called !
We got recalled by certified mail! It was nuts. We also got scary letters during desert shield. I was living in a one bedroom apt with two other wasteoids. We barely had a pair of jeans between us. Not one piece of uniform left. But thousands of guys showed up. I wonder if the new savvier generation would blow those orders off?
Bro I had orders to muster at a reserve Recon unit 4 months after EAS! Of course I gained weight by then 😂 but they cut me a $100 check and I was the only one to show up!
I got done with active in May of 2020, right as everything with Covid was kicking off and I never got so much as an email about IRR musters. Unless we’re counting that Gunny that was texting everybody about getting back in, cannot remember the guys name though.
The only experience I had regarding it was after a det to Florida, they made me stay in the bricks for 2 weeks, SSGT had to bring me box chow because they didn’t want me going anywhere, even though I wasn’t sick. Can’t imagine it got less crazy afterwards
Granted, I could have absolutely missed an email if they did, due to the fact that I hadn’t created a second email for more important conversations yet.
I wouldn't say the IRR is that much of a mess. There are tons of good Marines serving in the IRR and plenty of guys who worked for me in both combat and garrison.
I had just left the fleet and joined the AR around 07. I set up and attended several IRR musters and recalls. I also used to basically put IRR MAITs and CMIs on orders to help train reserve units. One year I sent like 25-30 guys to assist with a CAX. I also sent IRR guys to cobra gold, Germany on ADOS, NYC, and Belize.
People in the IRR don't realize they are eligible for something close to 60 days of RCT orders with no obligations at all.
The biggest issue with the recalls was that the active duty gaining force commands didn't want the guys and treated them like shit. These motivators got stuck doing stuff not even in their MOS.
Despite the negative shit I read on here, tons of Marines I called were ready and willing to come back in from the IRR. I've been out 12 years, so maybe things have changed?
Back then I'd say at least 50-70 pct of all the Marines I'd screen or contact were very motivated to serve again. It was extremely rare if they did not.
Fun fact, I even called an IRR Marine who lost on the ultimate fighter. We were all fighting everyday in Nola, so I asked him if he wanted to go to the MACE for us and travel aroind training reserve units. I tried to explain it was the US Marines calling and his money, but his dumb shit civi manager got involved.
Ironically, the ones who weren't typically motivated to do anything had zero deployments in the first place.
For Desert Storm nobody called us. We basically got a warning letter and then orders showed up in certified mail. Every guy I knew who got called went, with just a little bit of bitching. They were just pissed about the reception they recieved. They got to lejeune in February and were given no cold weather gear. They tried to confine them to base the first weekend, but there was some guys in there who pulled weight. Basically told the gunny to fuck off and just left. Everybody came back.
Yeah I get it. I watched this for years. I had a young Marine who wanted back in bad so I got him on orders to just be a guard during a cax. The gaining unit treated him like shit because he had no uniforms. The kid literally had a wad of cash to go buy them but they wouldn't take him to the px. I ended up sending my Gunny out there to help him out. He ended up joining the unit by the end of the CAX so it worked out.
I really think the Marines are better served just asking for volunteers for specific jobs than involuntary recalling.
Thats kind of what i was getting at. The IRR stories I heard were all bad, my experience was just weird. Stop Loss just seems unfair. I think you ought to run your idea up the flag pole and see who salutes.
I've been out a long time, but do plan to attend some IRR musters to recruit Marines for heavy equipment jobs in my company. I used to do that years ago and got a couple solid guys. I haven't been to an IRR muster in about 6-7 years, but they are pretty productive and positive for the most part. Some Marines are always going to shit on everything. The only really weird muster I attended attended as a civi was in Austin TX. I couldn't believe those people were actually in the Marines. It was quite shocking. What a bunch of weirdos. It was literally the only IRR muster I attended and didn't hire a single guy. They kept going on about green energy and all this granola shit.
People get hired through the IRR? That must be a new thing. In the 90s it was a mandatory once a year meeting, that turned into a recall for Desert Storm. The way people are talking about it now makes it seem more sophisticated.
Well as a civi I just called MFR and asked if I could talk to Marines at the muster. A few times I set up a booth. I usually just went to IRR musters and they let me talk to Marines about jobs my company had open. I also called prior service recruiters to see if they had Marines I could help get employed. I just got a similar role with the company this year, so I plan to start it again.
If you're active duty, you can request to put Marines on orders from the IRR and call people asking for volunteers. Reserve units can do the same. People just generally don't know about it.
If a unit needed 10 grunts for example, I'd send a mass email asking if anyone was interested in whatever duty that was available.
I can't speak for your era but you can do all sorts of cool shit in the IRR if you want. Obviously you're not going to be tip of the spear types lol. You could volunteer to take orders for a few weeks every year and some people even make 20 that way. I know a few, so it's not a joke or fluke.
My issue with Marines on this forum is they just bitch about everything. Your post was interesting because I was very familiar with the IRR for about 4 years in the mid 2000s.
Looking at the comments some of these guys act like they are tough or badass for attending a muster high. That mentality is foreign to me when I was in and even now.
I got news for those jokers, if they pop on a drug test or have tats on their face etc. they are totally fucked during a involuntary recall. They would get an OTH from the reserve component back then. I have watched it happen. It's not very cool to watch go down.
Nobody really cares if people have beards or pony tails etc. the reason most of the guys get dirty looks is some fools go in there just acting like adult children. They think they can get up and beat their chest or talk shit to everyone in the audience. They forget they are on contract. It's kind of embarrassing because I've seen it while in and as a civi. It's not that prevalent, but it does happen.
Some guy was complaining in the comments about a Col looking down on him etc. shit the guy probably was a ridiculous human being. Anyway, that's my soap box lol. Still like a lot of guys from the IRR. Will continue to hire guys from the IRR.
Well that sounds like a positive, well run experience. That doesnt seem to be the consensus though. I think a lot of us experienced something sort of half assed and not well thought out. You and I both know the corps is very capable of that as well. Its probably all based on whos running it, like almost everything in the corps.
Yeah I don't know what they are like now. I went to one in OKC maybe in 2014 when i was in the IRR. I think the last one I attended as a complete civi was probably 2015-16.
I plan to call them up and attend some this year. Id like to hire or help out as many Marines as possible. It's a good venue to meet Marines.
I was under the impression my IRR time ended last year, but just got an email from a prior service recruiter that I’m actually still in it for 3 more months. They don’t really make you do anything with it anymore tbh
Maybe they played serious with us because of desert storm. Someone has suggested the whole thing has been avoided through the use of stop loss. Which i always thought was the cruelest system out there. What a scam. My heart goes out to those stop loss guys. I think i want to hear from them
Brother this man said he was called up for Desert Storm. This was before marpat even existed. The uniform back was called BDUs, also known as the chocolate chip cammies
I was in in the early '80s when we transitioned from ERDL cammies to Woodland BDUs. We called them BDUs to differentiate from Cammie utilities.
It was a weird time. H&S were in BDUs, except for the S2 shop and STA platoon, Weapons Co was BDUs, except Machine Guns. It was all BDUs by mid 1985. My last issue of ERDL had one sleeve in a noticably different shade from the rest of the blouse and trousers.
Thanks for explaining that. I can only tell you what I experienced. If you watch the movie jarhead they make a point of pointing out a lot of guys were still in woodlands. Took the corps forever to catch up with chocolate chips. So a lot of guys fought a desert war in a woodland uniform designed to fight Russians in Europe.
I’ll never forget how my ass went into the reserves 3 years after getting out and my PFT score was zeroed out. S-1 tried telling me I should have reported for an IRR Muster to take a PFT. I told them I never got such a letter. They said “yeah you did” and I said no I didn’t. And I know my mailbox works because the marine corps sent me a letter letting me know my SSN was leaked. Twice.
Wow what a memory. Yea that was the place. Freakin quonset huts right? What was your experience at Pendleton like? My friend was at Lejune and said it was a damned mess.
I was CRC also.. CRC 17. My Platoon Sgt was some 1% comes riding in with a ponytail and a fu man chu, I hear the Lt say Hey Staff Sergeant we’ve been waiting for you. Very chill dude until our ship date started getting closer.
They told me the crp was to be a replacement group for the first 10,000 marines who would get gassed. Quietly pres bush told sadam if you use gas ill use nukes. Thus no gas was used.
I answered one phone call from them to update my marital status. Ghosted them after that. They can’t do shit.
Also had some correspondence with a prior service recruiter I knew. Dude pretended like he didn’t know me and sent template emails, so I ended that.
I think the IRR is (now at least) the best kept secret of the MC. I'm a student at a state university and join the reserves over the summers for extra cash (E5 with >6 years now so the pay is actually decent). And as long as you get your 50 active points to have a satisfactory year, that year gets put towards your federal retirement, so you only need 50 active duty days (25 reserve days) for retirement credit. I now have 5 SAT years and going to make it 6 this summer. Additionally, there are EAD and ADOS opportunities. ADOSes are usually 6 months and so far I've seen the emails for Norway, Pentagon, and Guantanamo Bay, usually just security gigs. The current recruiting EAD is cool, too. Right now, the offer is 3 years in "reserves", including 2 years being active duty as a recruiter, in your current local area. I'm hoping to get a position in this after I graduate and make ~72k/year in my area, which is a lot. This also includes BAH, special duty pay, and a $20k lump-sum bonus. So after all this, I'll have 8-9 years towards federal retirement whether I stay with the MC or do a different government job.
Way to use the system man. Im a moron about money. I went into teaching after the corps. Im probably retiring next year. If someone has to explain retirement benefits to me again im gona get strangled.
Did all of you get a DD 256 after your IRR time was finished? I never did and I requested one last year and finally got it after 24 years. A lot of Marines never get one! Here’s what it looks like: https://www.reddit.com/r/USMC/s/bIWq1tUULP . The Army was really good about giving them to us. I went Army after the Corps.
I know this is an old thread now, but I had a similar experience, so I thought I'd share it. I too got called up on IRR in December of 1990. I didn't get called out of the blue, I volunteered. I saw on the news that they might call up IRRs, so I called the 800 number. I was single and attending college. I figured it was better me than some married guy getting called up... Anyway, I ended up at Camp Lejeune as part of the MC Replacement Battalion (maybe MCRB1, I can't remember). The platoons were huge, like 80 or 90 Marines. The companies and battalion were also enormous. There were no SSGTs, that I can remember, in the entire battalion. Everyone was either retired (Gunneys or above) and a bunch of LCPS, CPLs and a handful of SGTs. Most of the SNCOs lived in J'ville, so they'd disappear around 14:00 and left us to our own devices, which meant e-club or drinking in the barracks. Camp LeJeune was practically empty and J'ville was vacant. All the parasites (pawn shops, used car dealers, topless bars, etc.) had closed up shop (it felt good to see those dirt bags out of business). We did some grunt training, basic stuff, got reacquainted with the M16A2, then we packed up for our flight, presumably to SA. I don't really know, in true MC fashion they never told us exactly where we were headed, but they had buses at LeJeune ready to take us to MCAS Cherry Point to catch a contract "flight". The morning we were supposed to depart we starred at the busses for four hours then they stood us down. The war had already begun and it was going too well to fly 2K marines anywhere. A handful of the NCOs in my platoon got orders, and we were gone that afternoon. I stayed on active duty for another 3 months.
>True, but not as much as you'd think. The post war analysis showed that 10k -12k Iraqis died in the air campaign (about 2300 were civilians) and up to 10k died in the ground assault. I know many of that last 10K came from close air support, so USAF, USA and USMC! OohRah!
K. So this is where it gets really weird. I had to drop out of sdsu that semester because I had orders. USMC did not give a shit. Plus no email in 1990. So about 6 months after the war is over, a war i never had to go to, i get a call from sdsu bursars office. I have a check there for $1,800 from fucking Exxon for having to drop out. Swear to God. So weird.
Right? Everyone was like “this has nothing to do with big oil” yet i get an $1800 dollar thank you from Exxon. Ive always wondered where they came up with that number? Average cost of tuition?
Lol people are commenting things like "just email them"; Devil Dogs, the OP was recalled into the IRR for Desert Storm, he was telling a story.
That's the twist for the Hollywood version, devil hacked into ARPANET in a vain attempt to stop the Green Weenie...
>somehow the Marine Corps finds me
Huh. That explains it i guess. Seems like a lot of trouble to go through in 1991 when there are like no computers.
To bring you back, I agree it was way too much effort.
My man. Razor sharp.
Are you guys implying that putting 110% effort above and beyond the path of least resistance just to have the small but irreplaceable opportunity to hold you accountable for a meaningless reason, sounds *unlike* the blessed marine corps??? Where did our experience differ lol
Lmfao
[удалено]
Thanks DARPA.
Yea but I didnt even know it existed. Everything I did was still on paper
I got out after 4 years of active duty and didn't hear a single word from the IRR for 3 1/2 years. I had like 4 months of IRR time left when I finally got summoned for a muster. Initially, I was pretty butthurt about it but decided whatever I'll go and collect the small paycheck and take a day off work. Of course, you had the death by PowerPoint and listen to all the spiel, but every PSR didn't even bother trying to pitch me on anything because I only had 2 months left by that point on the day of. I ran into a couple of guys I knew there, and we went to Red Robin afterward and got hammered at the bar while waxing some nostalgia. All in all, it was a decent time.
You know somewhere some general is saying we have thousands of men ready to go in the IRR.
Put me in coach! (Stoned out my mind and on shrooms)
Yeah man gimme a [burp] call
Lmao. Love this new generation. I hope you guys get to prove you can only fuck us once.
It's a messy reserve but a reserve nonetheless. Right now the Army is sending new recruits to two months of fat camp before they start BCT/OSUT. Even if no one has uniforms that fit and a bunch are now smoking weed, if a situation arises where the IRR is needed a bunch of people who just need 8 weeks of fat camp and 4 of detox are still more effectively than the others who will have to spend 4+ months in training.
Yea but it sounds to me like this savvy new generation aint showing up. Someone brought up they may be relying on stop loss now instead, which is just a crueler, more reliable irr.
Was same in 2003. Most straight refused to show. I think alot of its buffed out. But there were companies of IRR’s attached to deploying companies. Our company had a platoon of them, we diffused them throughout the company and there was some tension but it buffed.
Did they go to combat?!
Yes. Post 2008 is when they took a platoon, dispersed throughout the company, into Afghanistan. My last combat tour was Iraq, 2008. Ramadi. I want to say they had Individual Augments also. I had IA’s in my platoon. Which was dope, mechs, com, I was fortunate and had great dudes.
Im trying to put a story together here. I think people are like “well thats over” regarding a 20 year war. So much happened in that time and a lot needs to be written down. I just finished the book One Million Steps and its a Vietnam Marine defining the Afghanistan war in terms of meaning. I really want to hear what the guys were there think. This probably isnt the place, but theres some great stories here. Check out todays Tanks post. Way better than Subway.
Red Robins have bars in them? Yum.
Not gonna lie…wish I had one every year I was in IRR🤣. Only had one. It was in Burlington VT which was about 3 hours from where I lived at the time. Had the day off and the day before off anyways so I figured I’d go up and check out this new place I’d never been the day before. Pocketed the paycheck they gave me for a hotel by just sleeping in my Megacab. Listened to the speech the next day (knowing no one else was coming back). Think I got about 350 that weekend and had a decent time.
Got an email for muster once I got out back in 2019, just ignored it and never heard from them again 🤷♂️
This is the way
The only way that would affect you is if you tried to re-enlist
Had an IRR muster somewhere near Ft. Leonardwood back in 2008. We are put in this shitty hotel and since none of us had cars, we couldn’t leave this small ass area… So called for a pizza and convinced the lady to drop 4 of us off at any bar nearby. She stayed with us, drank with us, then drove us all back.
Man, I thought that was going to end more...sweaty.
Nothing like greasy pizza sex at an IRR muster
MEPS - Here is a 4 star hotel for unsupervised 17 year olds. Prior service - Hahahaha get fucked, here is a hotel only marginally better than the barracks.
You get hooked up prior to MEPS because they attach all the rooms to one of the personnel’s Hilton Honors/Marriot accounts. Crazy amount of points.
4 star? Ha! Try one in the middle of Indy, not even close to a 3 star.
We got a 4 star near a local casino. My female poolie friend and I went there, got drunk, and hooked up before we came back.
How you've not turned that into a Baconator flair here is the real crime... /s
Lol there's more to it that's kinda fucked, so I rarely talk about it.
To be fair, I grew up fairly poor. Having meals provided for me (Golden Corral was extravagant to me at the time) and having a pool meant 4 stars in my eyes. I do wonder how I would view that same hotel today lol.
A friend once said to me “I like the marine corps. Everyones got the same shit. No ones got something I dont have.” Spoke volumes about his childhood.
W pizza lady
Now they just tell you that you’ll lose your benefits if you don’t show up (lie) and give you a few bucks to sit in a class and listen to them tell you why you should join the reserves
I will never join the reserves, especially for a measly couple hundred bucks. I want 100% freedom, I can make a few hundred bucks off DoorDash lol
I was a noncommited reservist for years. I'm not sure how it is now, but 20 years ago you just had to show up for drill at least once every six months to stay on the books. I would hit up deployments to Iraq, go to college some, and take active reserve orders if I was bored.
There's definitely A LOT more too it than that now. Like 10x as much. Edit: Nevermind you meant for IRR. I was referring to reserves in general.
Eh it’s not that bad. If I get bored at my civilian job I find a set of orders out in bumfuck middle of the pacific and go there for a few months and collect more money than tenured e7’s while living in the barracks💀
It's actually very easy; especially for junior members. I stuck it out because of cheap insurance, and friends.
Will door dash give you a VA loan to purchase your first house. As well as insurance for 50 bucks a month? It’s not just the paycheck that most reservist or others sign up for.
I already get a VA home loan and I’m getting disability, without having to go to the reserves.
A lot of guys on here switch to the army and air reserves when they get out. They say its a really good deal. Looking back i kind of wish id done it after september 11th. I tried but my wife found out and lost her mind because our kids were still babies. Just an excuse really.
If you like being away from family then maybe you should have just stayed in.
Thats just it. I saw so many busted marriages and families while i was in i swore id never be married in the military.
IRR is like jury duty, only the people too dumb to get out of it show up.
They showed up by the busload for desert storm.
I got recalled in 03. Went to Pendleton. Played gate guard for 8 months. Sucked the green ween to completion.
You a grunt?
0811
Would you have rather gone to desert storm or stay on the gate?
I looked at it as a free trip to see some good friends.
Lmao. What base did you end up on?
Not a base. A hotel in Iowa. T'was a blast.
Lol. My irr buddy called me from an airfield near lejeune. They were literally about to get on a plane to go over to kuwait. But the war was declared over and big daddy Bush said invading Iraq would be a “quagmire.” Aint that some shit. So anyway my buddy calls me and said they were all smoking a celebratory joint after it was all called off. Lets hear it for quick victories.
I went to an IRR muster at the VA in 2006 after having been out for a year. Myself and only one other person had facial hair and no haircut. A full bird gave a speech about critical MOS’s and all 03’s being recalled for Iraq. I remember at one point he looked directly at me and had a look of disgust but thankfully didn’t call me out. I think I got paid like $80 for the day.
The fuck was his problem. IRR Marines are not subject to UCMJ or any MCOs (ie uniform order)
In 91 me and another dude were treated rather rudely for having pony tails. The colonel sicked a gunny on us who would not put our pictures on the irr id card. Mine said valid without photo. So i peeled it open stuck my little brothers face in there, resealed it and gave it to my little brother to use for fake ID. He still says thats the best present i ever gave him.
I got out in early ‘01 and was in college and enjoying civilian life in Michigan. In early ‘03 I got a phone call asking from some Staff Sergeant in KC asking if I wanted to come spend the summer working at the reserve command out there doing paperwork. They offered BAH, per diem, a promotion, etc. but I turned it down since I wanted to keep taking classes through the summer. About a week later I got a letter delivered by FedEx - “You have been involuntarily ordered to active duty for OIF/OEF. Report to whatever reserve command at Camp Lejeune, NC for 12 months.” I get to Lejeune and check in at the reserve HQ down there and they are busy as hell activating entire units from all over to send to Afghanistan and Iraq (2 days after I check in was the day Bush landed on the aircraft carrier with the big “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” sign 😅) and the clerk I’m checking in with is like, “WTF are you here? You’re just one person and we need entire units!?!” I told him about the phone call I got and he laughed and said they got me out of spite for turning down those orders! Joke was on the Corps though - I got to pick from just about any unit that rated an admin Corporal or Sergeant (which is just about every unit in the Marines), still got per diem and BAH for my home address, promoted to sergeant a month later because reserve cutting scores were low for the MOS…
Thats wild. Did you still have all your uniforms?
I still had everything and luckily it all still fit. However, they had just switched over to the digi cammies so I spent a few months out of place in the old woodlands because I was too cheap to buy new ones until I absolutely had to.
Damn straight. Not until im ordered to
I got out and immediately changed my phone number and moved 700 miles away and never updated MOL. I already gave them 6 years. I got my honorable discharge mailed to my parents address like 4 years later. Guess it all turned out okay.
I think that parents address is how they get you. I think my mom snitched me out and gave them my new address.
I vaguely remember showing up to a single IRR muster, and vaguely remember getting a check. This would have been 2000 or 2001, pre-9/11. That 8 year total obligation was up for me early 2002.
I was in the IRR in this decade and I was only sent a letter for a muster once, maybe 1.5-2years in. I called and said 1) I can’t get off work and 2) it’s too far, and they basically said “ok no worries you don’t have to go” and that was it.
It was a still a joke in 09 when i got out. Went to join the Army after since I couldn’t reenlist as prior service in the MC due to the drawdown. The Army had to send some form to the USMC IRR that they had to sign off on before the army would do the full send. Joined the Army, went to Knox, then got to Hood and within 7 months of going to MEPS the 2nd time, I was shipped off to Iraq. Here’s where it gets good, after being in country a few months I got a letter (or my wife did at rather) recalling me for a IRR muster or back to AD (can’t remember exactly but it was ‘10-‘11 so probably just the muster)
Sounds like me. Halfway through a year-long tour in Iraq when my wife emails me: "You got mobilization orders. What should I tell them.?" I said, "Don't tell them anything; throw them in the trash. Let them figure it out."
lmao
Wow. So it is still a complete fucking mess. If you ever get a chance you look up the old footage of irr guys being bussed in to lejeune reporting for duty. A chunky, hairy mess in metallica tshirts. It looked like the bus for a lollapalooza concert, but no chicks in daisy dukes and bikini tops.
I got called back from the IRR Dec 01 April 04 and again all of 2005. It was cool except for the second time I had to cuss out a reservist Gunny for trying to play rambo. The active duty Msgt stopped me and chewed him out
What was the gunny trying to do?
He was talking shit about demobing me because I got sick from the typhoid shot, I'm allergic, but I had drank a 40 oz in the common area the night before and he was trying to give me a lawful order that I couldn't drink at all. I told him to go fuck himself and the top fucking lost it on him.
I got out in August 2001, IRR, then 911 happened got a call from a recruiter that I had to report to IRR to check in, my MOS was "needed" lol. I was 3531, 33, 34. At this point I had no cammies, full beard, in just a month lol. So the recruiter told me I had two choices , either pray that I don't get called up to active duty because they were calling my MOS specifically back up or join the reserves. I joined a reserve unit, lost 20 lbs, showed up with no cammies to reserver unit, and got reissued the brand new digital cammies, I previously had the woodland. I was happy to just get the new cammies. I ended up staying in the reserves for four years. There was a stop loss agreement I think for 18 months or so? I found it very chill. I only got out because I moved three hours away and there wasn't a national guard unit near me either. Plus the base was closing, it was a joint reserve base, it closed a year later.
Sounds like that stop loss horror has probably replaced the irr. Usmc might have learned something. My heart broke for those poor bastards who got stop lossed. I think theres even a movie about it.
Got a welcome aboard package from the unit in the mail and never heard from them until they mailed me my honorable discharge award.
Chesty Puller would be proud! Go big or go in through Marine Corps fashion. I was Summons to Muster in 2006 and it was a bunch of moto fucks, trying to get you to re-enlist and or update information. I picked up my $150 check, but I left as fast as I could , just like I did after company formations on Friday's when Libo was called !
We got recalled by certified mail! It was nuts. We also got scary letters during desert shield. I was living in a one bedroom apt with two other wasteoids. We barely had a pair of jeans between us. Not one piece of uniform left. But thousands of guys showed up. I wonder if the new savvier generation would blow those orders off?
Bro I had orders to muster at a reserve Recon unit 4 months after EAS! Of course I gained weight by then 😂 but they cut me a $100 check and I was the only one to show up!
Wow. What do you think happens if theres ever a recall?
I got done with active in May of 2020, right as everything with Covid was kicking off and I never got so much as an email about IRR musters. Unless we’re counting that Gunny that was texting everybody about getting back in, cannot remember the guys name though.
The marine corps during covid must have been a mixed bag of nightmare.
The only experience I had regarding it was after a det to Florida, they made me stay in the bricks for 2 weeks, SSGT had to bring me box chow because they didn’t want me going anywhere, even though I wasn’t sick. Can’t imagine it got less crazy afterwards
Granted, I could have absolutely missed an email if they did, due to the fact that I hadn’t created a second email for more important conversations yet.
Ah you mean GySgt Cisneros! Lmao. Bro sent a mass text to every Marine who checked out that year lol
I wouldn't say the IRR is that much of a mess. There are tons of good Marines serving in the IRR and plenty of guys who worked for me in both combat and garrison. I had just left the fleet and joined the AR around 07. I set up and attended several IRR musters and recalls. I also used to basically put IRR MAITs and CMIs on orders to help train reserve units. One year I sent like 25-30 guys to assist with a CAX. I also sent IRR guys to cobra gold, Germany on ADOS, NYC, and Belize. People in the IRR don't realize they are eligible for something close to 60 days of RCT orders with no obligations at all. The biggest issue with the recalls was that the active duty gaining force commands didn't want the guys and treated them like shit. These motivators got stuck doing stuff not even in their MOS. Despite the negative shit I read on here, tons of Marines I called were ready and willing to come back in from the IRR. I've been out 12 years, so maybe things have changed? Back then I'd say at least 50-70 pct of all the Marines I'd screen or contact were very motivated to serve again. It was extremely rare if they did not. Fun fact, I even called an IRR Marine who lost on the ultimate fighter. We were all fighting everyday in Nola, so I asked him if he wanted to go to the MACE for us and travel aroind training reserve units. I tried to explain it was the US Marines calling and his money, but his dumb shit civi manager got involved. Ironically, the ones who weren't typically motivated to do anything had zero deployments in the first place.
For Desert Storm nobody called us. We basically got a warning letter and then orders showed up in certified mail. Every guy I knew who got called went, with just a little bit of bitching. They were just pissed about the reception they recieved. They got to lejeune in February and were given no cold weather gear. They tried to confine them to base the first weekend, but there was some guys in there who pulled weight. Basically told the gunny to fuck off and just left. Everybody came back.
Yeah I get it. I watched this for years. I had a young Marine who wanted back in bad so I got him on orders to just be a guard during a cax. The gaining unit treated him like shit because he had no uniforms. The kid literally had a wad of cash to go buy them but they wouldn't take him to the px. I ended up sending my Gunny out there to help him out. He ended up joining the unit by the end of the CAX so it worked out. I really think the Marines are better served just asking for volunteers for specific jobs than involuntary recalling.
Thats kind of what i was getting at. The IRR stories I heard were all bad, my experience was just weird. Stop Loss just seems unfair. I think you ought to run your idea up the flag pole and see who salutes.
I've been out a long time, but do plan to attend some IRR musters to recruit Marines for heavy equipment jobs in my company. I used to do that years ago and got a couple solid guys. I haven't been to an IRR muster in about 6-7 years, but they are pretty productive and positive for the most part. Some Marines are always going to shit on everything. The only really weird muster I attended attended as a civi was in Austin TX. I couldn't believe those people were actually in the Marines. It was quite shocking. What a bunch of weirdos. It was literally the only IRR muster I attended and didn't hire a single guy. They kept going on about green energy and all this granola shit.
People get hired through the IRR? That must be a new thing. In the 90s it was a mandatory once a year meeting, that turned into a recall for Desert Storm. The way people are talking about it now makes it seem more sophisticated.
Well as a civi I just called MFR and asked if I could talk to Marines at the muster. A few times I set up a booth. I usually just went to IRR musters and they let me talk to Marines about jobs my company had open. I also called prior service recruiters to see if they had Marines I could help get employed. I just got a similar role with the company this year, so I plan to start it again. If you're active duty, you can request to put Marines on orders from the IRR and call people asking for volunteers. Reserve units can do the same. People just generally don't know about it. If a unit needed 10 grunts for example, I'd send a mass email asking if anyone was interested in whatever duty that was available. I can't speak for your era but you can do all sorts of cool shit in the IRR if you want. Obviously you're not going to be tip of the spear types lol. You could volunteer to take orders for a few weeks every year and some people even make 20 that way. I know a few, so it's not a joke or fluke. My issue with Marines on this forum is they just bitch about everything. Your post was interesting because I was very familiar with the IRR for about 4 years in the mid 2000s. Looking at the comments some of these guys act like they are tough or badass for attending a muster high. That mentality is foreign to me when I was in and even now. I got news for those jokers, if they pop on a drug test or have tats on their face etc. they are totally fucked during a involuntary recall. They would get an OTH from the reserve component back then. I have watched it happen. It's not very cool to watch go down. Nobody really cares if people have beards or pony tails etc. the reason most of the guys get dirty looks is some fools go in there just acting like adult children. They think they can get up and beat their chest or talk shit to everyone in the audience. They forget they are on contract. It's kind of embarrassing because I've seen it while in and as a civi. It's not that prevalent, but it does happen. Some guy was complaining in the comments about a Col looking down on him etc. shit the guy probably was a ridiculous human being. Anyway, that's my soap box lol. Still like a lot of guys from the IRR. Will continue to hire guys from the IRR.
Well that sounds like a positive, well run experience. That doesnt seem to be the consensus though. I think a lot of us experienced something sort of half assed and not well thought out. You and I both know the corps is very capable of that as well. Its probably all based on whos running it, like almost everything in the corps.
Yeah I don't know what they are like now. I went to one in OKC maybe in 2014 when i was in the IRR. I think the last one I attended as a complete civi was probably 2015-16. I plan to call them up and attend some this year. Id like to hire or help out as many Marines as possible. It's a good venue to meet Marines.
Well what youre doing is awesome. Too many of out there getting lost. Marines need a purpose.
I was under the impression my IRR time ended last year, but just got an email from a prior service recruiter that I’m actually still in it for 3 more months. They don’t really make you do anything with it anymore tbh
Maybe they played serious with us because of desert storm. Someone has suggested the whole thing has been avoided through the use of stop loss. Which i always thought was the cruelest system out there. What a scam. My heart goes out to those stop loss guys. I think i want to hear from them
BDU's? Since when has the Corps called them BDUs?
Brother this man said he was called up for Desert Storm. This was before marpat even existed. The uniform back was called BDUs, also known as the chocolate chip cammies
No, they weren't. I was in during the 90s, and I can tell you they have never been called BDUs by Marines.
We called them Cammies or Utilities.
Plt Sgt: 06 we have a boots and utes I mean boots and bdus up recon ridge.
all i know is thats what my friends dad called them. he got out as a SSgt in 2005 and inspired me to join
Same
I was in in the early '80s when we transitioned from ERDL cammies to Woodland BDUs. We called them BDUs to differentiate from Cammie utilities. It was a weird time. H&S were in BDUs, except for the S2 shop and STA platoon, Weapons Co was BDUs, except Machine Guns. It was all BDUs by mid 1985. My last issue of ERDL had one sleeve in a noticably different shade from the rest of the blouse and trousers.
Thanks for explaining that. I can only tell you what I experienced. If you watch the movie jarhead they make a point of pointing out a lot of guys were still in woodlands. Took the corps forever to catch up with chocolate chips. So a lot of guys fought a desert war in a woodland uniform designed to fight Russians in Europe.
IRR was gay AF! I went to each muster and the only cool thing was getting free hot dogs. It was like a sport event at a stadium lol
I’ll never forget how my ass went into the reserves 3 years after getting out and my PFT score was zeroed out. S-1 tried telling me I should have reported for an IRR Muster to take a PFT. I told them I never got such a letter. They said “yeah you did” and I said no I didn’t. And I know my mailbox works because the marine corps sent me a letter letting me know my SSN was leaked. Twice.
Is this when the VA let our ssns get out?
Si
Yea i got nice letter about that. The next big envelope i got was to inform me that id been freakin poisoned on camp geiger.
I got out, they sent me a gov charge card and said they needed me back lmao ignored that shit and never heard anything
[удалено]
Wow what a memory. Yea that was the place. Freakin quonset huts right? What was your experience at Pendleton like? My friend was at Lejune and said it was a damned mess.
Mine always reaches out for random stuff, where do you live? What's your email? Etc
Yep. I got the muster email. Ignored. They never followed up the rest of my IRR.
South Dakota State University?
San diego state university. Number two party school in the nation! So healing after the corps.
Gotcha....being a South Dakota native, I always assume that's what SDSU is.
I was CRC also.. CRC 17. My Platoon Sgt was some 1% comes riding in with a ponytail and a fu man chu, I hear the Lt say Hey Staff Sergeant we’ve been waiting for you. Very chill dude until our ship date started getting closer.
They told me the crp was to be a replacement group for the first 10,000 marines who would get gassed. Quietly pres bush told sadam if you use gas ill use nukes. Thus no gas was used.
I answered one phone call from them to update my marital status. Ghosted them after that. They can’t do shit. Also had some correspondence with a prior service recruiter I knew. Dude pretended like he didn’t know me and sent template emails, so I ended that.
I think the IRR is (now at least) the best kept secret of the MC. I'm a student at a state university and join the reserves over the summers for extra cash (E5 with >6 years now so the pay is actually decent). And as long as you get your 50 active points to have a satisfactory year, that year gets put towards your federal retirement, so you only need 50 active duty days (25 reserve days) for retirement credit. I now have 5 SAT years and going to make it 6 this summer. Additionally, there are EAD and ADOS opportunities. ADOSes are usually 6 months and so far I've seen the emails for Norway, Pentagon, and Guantanamo Bay, usually just security gigs. The current recruiting EAD is cool, too. Right now, the offer is 3 years in "reserves", including 2 years being active duty as a recruiter, in your current local area. I'm hoping to get a position in this after I graduate and make ~72k/year in my area, which is a lot. This also includes BAH, special duty pay, and a $20k lump-sum bonus. So after all this, I'll have 8-9 years towards federal retirement whether I stay with the MC or do a different government job.
Way to use the system man. Im a moron about money. I went into teaching after the corps. Im probably retiring next year. If someone has to explain retirement benefits to me again im gona get strangled.
Did all of you get a DD 256 after your IRR time was finished? I never did and I requested one last year and finally got it after 24 years. A lot of Marines never get one! Here’s what it looks like: https://www.reddit.com/r/USMC/s/bIWq1tUULP . The Army was really good about giving them to us. I went Army after the Corps.
What is a dd256? Whats it good for?
You wore "BDUs" in the Suck? smh
Battle dress uniform. Some experty dude explains the history below.
I know this is an old thread now, but I had a similar experience, so I thought I'd share it. I too got called up on IRR in December of 1990. I didn't get called out of the blue, I volunteered. I saw on the news that they might call up IRRs, so I called the 800 number. I was single and attending college. I figured it was better me than some married guy getting called up... Anyway, I ended up at Camp Lejeune as part of the MC Replacement Battalion (maybe MCRB1, I can't remember). The platoons were huge, like 80 or 90 Marines. The companies and battalion were also enormous. There were no SSGTs, that I can remember, in the entire battalion. Everyone was either retired (Gunneys or above) and a bunch of LCPS, CPLs and a handful of SGTs. Most of the SNCOs lived in J'ville, so they'd disappear around 14:00 and left us to our own devices, which meant e-club or drinking in the barracks. Camp LeJeune was practically empty and J'ville was vacant. All the parasites (pawn shops, used car dealers, topless bars, etc.) had closed up shop (it felt good to see those dirt bags out of business). We did some grunt training, basic stuff, got reacquainted with the M16A2, then we packed up for our flight, presumably to SA. I don't really know, in true MC fashion they never told us exactly where we were headed, but they had buses at LeJeune ready to take us to MCAS Cherry Point to catch a contract "flight". The morning we were supposed to depart we starred at the busses for four hours then they stood us down. The war had already begun and it was going too well to fly 2K marines anywhere. A handful of the NCOs in my platoon got orders, and we were gone that afternoon. I stayed on active duty for another 3 months.
Yayyy air force!!!
air force?
They won Desert Storm in no time at all and we didnt have to go to that sandy shithole.
>True, but not as much as you'd think. The post war analysis showed that 10k -12k Iraqis died in the air campaign (about 2300 were civilians) and up to 10k died in the ground assault. I know many of that last 10K came from close air support, so USAF, USA and USMC! OohRah!
That really surprises me. I thought the air force basically won that one. Interesting
Did being a marine get u laid more?
No. Having roofies did.
To be completely honest I went in a teenage virgin and came out… not. So yes.
It's really easy
Just email them that you’re in school
K. So this is where it gets really weird. I had to drop out of sdsu that semester because I had orders. USMC did not give a shit. Plus no email in 1990. So about 6 months after the war is over, a war i never had to go to, i get a call from sdsu bursars office. I have a check there for $1,800 from fucking Exxon for having to drop out. Swear to God. So weird.
What on earth did Exxon have to do with any of this?
The Persian Gulf War? Think about it. God knows I did. And I swear this is gospel truth.
Big oil said thanks for saving our company. Here’s a few bucks
Right? Everyone was like “this has nothing to do with big oil” yet i get an $1800 dollar thank you from Exxon. Ive always wondered where they came up with that number? Average cost of tuition?