Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Recall! Return of the IRR
    Recall! Return of the IRR
    Recall! Return of the IRR
    Ebook117 pages1 hour

    Recall! Return of the IRR

    By Doug DePew

    4.5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    There hadn't been a full-scale recall of the Individual Ready Reserves since the Korean War in January of 1991. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, many people believed it would take World War III to trigger a recall of the IRR. Many people were wrong.

    They came from cities and farms and towns in every corner of the country. With only a few days' notice, they quit their jobs, dropped out of college, kissed their girlfriends or wives, and got on planes to Atlanta, Georgia with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They had long hair, beards, and bad attitudes. They descended by the thousands on Fort Benning, Georgia, and they were not happy about it at all.

    In this entertaining, true story, the author relates his own experiences as one of the twenty-thousand IRR recalls who were ordered back to active duty in support of Operation Desert Storm. In a story reminiscent of "The Dirty Dozen" times ten thousand, the author takes you through the entire experience from beginning to end. He carries you along for the ride and explains exactly what it was like to be a recall. With the many IRR recalls over the last ten years of warfare, this first hand account could shed some light on how the current era of recalls began. (29,000 words +/-)

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDoug DePew
    Release dateAug 11, 2011
    ISBN9781465796431
    Recall! Return of the IRR
    Author

    Doug DePew

    The author spent just over four years on active duty in the US Army Infantry. Today, he is a retired teacher from the Bureau of Prisons with over twenty years of total federal service and lives in the country in southwest Missouri with his wonderful wife and orange cats.

    Read more from Doug De Pew

    Related to Recall! Return of the IRR

    Related ebooks

    Military Biographies For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      A Def New Sound

      Jul 1, 2022

      A Def New Sound
      17 min read

    • Article

      Expanded Police

      Jul 1, 2022

      Expanded Police
      8 min read

    • Article

      A LIFE OF WANDER & WONDER

      Jul 27, 2018

      A LIFE OF WANDER & WONDER
      10 min read

    • Article

      Rambler in Quarantine

      Jun 12, 2020

      Rambler in Quarantine
      12 min read

    • Article

      Mike Tramp

      Aug 19, 2022

      Mike Tramp
      2 min read

    • Article

      ’top Tracks

      Aug 27, 2019

      “IT GOES BACK to the Moving Sidewalks,” the ZZ Top singer and guitarist says, referring to the psychedelic rock act he founded in Texas in the mid 1960s. “Our first single, ‘99th Floor,’ was such a rewarding experience. Back in the ’60s, before you w

      10 min read

    • Article

      Lithuania Calling

      Apr 22, 2023

      Lithuania Calling
      6 min read

    • Article

      Josh Devine

      May 11, 2021

      Josh Devine
      8 min read

    • Article

      Chuck D: ‘Bringing Rap To The UK Was Our British Invasion’

      Dec 29, 2022

      When did you last see Terminator X and has he ever let you ride on one of the ostriches on his ostrich farm? GrimpeursPublic Enemy does a conference Zoom call every two weeks, so, yeah, I still speak to him once in a while. I’ve eaten ostrich in Sout

      4 min read

    • Article

      LOWE & BEHOLD

      Oct 16, 2019

      LOWE & BEHOLD
      9 min read

    • Article

      Joe Lenn Turner

      Dec 9, 2022

      Joe Lenn Turner
      4 min read

    • Article

      All The Pretty Things

      Nov 23, 2020

      “When I left the band after S.F. Sorrow, I thought we had made a really good album,” says guitarist Dick Taylor. “But it wasn’t about disappointment over the sales, which is what people think. ‘Oh did you leave because it should have been a hit?’ In

      8 min read

    • Article

      Q&A

      Aug 13, 2020

      Q&A
      9 min read

    • Article

      Wolfgang Flür

      Mar 11, 2022

      Though there are many disciples and offspring who follow in their wake, few are bands or artists who can claim with any degree of honesty to have altered the course of music. Occupying that rarefied space are Kraftwerk, a group so far ahead of the cu

      11 min read

    • Article

      Kingdom

      Dec 22, 2020

      Kingdom
      11 min read

    • Article

      Serj Tankian

      Mar 31, 2021

      It was late at night and pouring with rain when Serj Tankian had what he calls his “epiphany”. Serj was in his mid-20s and had been working for his uncle’s jewellery business since graduating from university, playing music on the side. But he wasn’t

      8 min read

    • Article

      Secrets Of A Happy Life

      Sep 30, 2021

      Secrets Of A Happy Life
      3 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Recall! Return of the IRR

    4.5/5

    3 ratings1 review

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 5/5
      This book is a fascinating glimpse into the life of an ex-military man who is recalled to service when war once again threatens to erupt. We see the total disruption to the life he'd been building. Then we travel with him to his new military base and feel the instant camaraderie between these men who'd been pulled back from their civilian lives. I've never been in the military. My husband is ex-Army, though we got married after he'd been out for several years. I don't have much background in military jargon, but I didn't find that a problem with this book. DePew clarifies his terminology so that anyone can understand. This is an interesting read for those with military background, or for anyone who'd like to understand what it's like for these men and women who put their lives on the line for us each and every day.

    Book preview

    Recall! Return of the IRR - Doug DePew

    Recall!

    Return of the IRR

    By Doug DePew

    Recall!

    Return of the IRR

    By Doug DePew

    Copyright 2011 by Doug DePew

    Smashwords Edition

    Smashwords Edition, License Notes

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold

    or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person,

    please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did

    not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to

    Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work

    of this author.

    Other Works by Doug DePew

    SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat ISBN #978-1432771324

    For further information visit Tower Rat Main Tango on facebook

    (Excerpt at the back of the book)

    Dedication

    This book is dedicated to the men and women of the U. S. Individual Ready Reserve.

    Acknowledgements

    I would like to thank my wonderful wife who had to put up with me in the difficult months of adjustment after my IRR recall. I would also like to thank the NCOs and officers who did their best to get us ready in an extremely chaotic and confusing situation and who had to put up with all twenty thousand of us. I know we didn't make it easy. Finally, I would like to thank my fellow recalls who made the entire experience one I will always remember.

    Table of Contents

    Prologue

    Chapter 1

    Chapter 2

    Chapter 3

    Chapter 4

    Chapter 5

    Chapter 6

    Chapter 7

    Chapter 8

    Chapter 9

    Chapter 10

    Chapter 11

    Chapter 12

    Chapter 13

    Chapter 14

    Epilogue

    Prologue

    I served four years on active duty in the US Army as an 11B light weapons infantryman also known as a grunt. My first two years were spent in Heilbronn, Federal Republic of Germany with C Company, 2nd Battalion, 4th Infantry Regiment (Pershing) as security for Pershing II nuclear missiles. That tour is documented in my previous release: SAT & BAF! Memories of a Tower Rat. The balance of my enlistment was spent with B Company, 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment (Mechanized) at Fort Carson, Colorado as a mechanized infantryman.

    I was honorably discharged from active duty as an E-4 specialist in July of 1990 at my end of term in service or ETS. All military contracts since the early 1980s have been for eight years rather than the six years it was prior to that. Part of it is obligated active duty or active reserve time. If a military member chooses not to re-enlist, they are automatically transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR) to serve the balance of their contract. Members of the IRR do not have to drill and basically live as civilians. They are not paid. They are, however, on a list that is subject to recall on the order of the president. That hadn’t been done on a large scale since the Korean War, so it seemed highly unlikely to many veterans in the early 1990s. With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the crumbling of the Soviet Union, it seemed nearly impossible. A lot of people said it would take World War III for the IRR to be called up again. A lot of people were wrong.

    Many options were open to me after the Army. A big game outfitter in Montana offered me a job as a hunting guide. Application packets to the University of Tennessee, Auburn University, and University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) were stacked in the drawer next to my bed along with an application for the Central Intelligence Agency. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department had a recruiting poster next to the pay phone on my floor of the barracks with a number I considered calling. Instead, I answered a full-page advertisement in the back of Rolling Stone magazine.

    A school named Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in Winter Park, Florida was looking for people who had a passion for music. I contacted them to learn more about the program. It was a grueling program that squeezed a full two academic years into nine months due to the long hours. In exchange, they taught about all facets of the music industry and gave hands-on experience with state of the art equipment. Admission required a high school diploma, a passion for music, and above average hearing. I submitted the hearing test from my ETS physical and started classes in July of 1990.

    Iraq invaded the small country of Kuwait on August 2, 1990 prompting a huge, international outcry. The United Nations voted to bring economic sanctions against Iraq unless Saddam Hussein withdrew his troops immediately. Operation Desert Shield officially began on August 7, 1990 as the US began assembling forces in Saudi Arabia to repel a possible invasion by Iraq. The American troops were joined by military forces from a number of coalition nations. The US Army instituted a stop loss in August of 1990 halting all further releases from active duty until further notice. The United Nations Security Council voted on November 29, 1990 to give Iraq until January 15, 1991 to withdraw completely from Kuwait or face a military response. A huge force of more than half a million, including air, naval, and ground assets of more than thirty-four countries, was assembled to face the Iraqi army which was alleged to be the third or fourth largest in the world at that time. In addition, Germany and Japan added large financial contributions. President Bush drew a line in the sand. Saddam Hussein promised the world the Mother of All Battles on CNN.

    The aerial campaign began on January 17, 1991 on live television. For the first time in history, people were able to watch a war in progress. Images of the massive amounts of anti-aircraft flack flying through the skies of Baghdad were broadcast live on CNN every night. The world was entering uncharted waters by holding a war that could be viewed live, twenty-four hours a day, on television.

    Meanwhile, I was enjoying my time at Full Sail.

    Chapter 1

    What are we supposed to do? Rob asked our instructor Charlie.

    Do whatever you want, he told us as he took a drag off his freshly rolled joint.

    Whatever we want? I asked.

    Yeah, it's your lab. We're just supposed to lay down some tape so you can run through the entire process, he said.

    So we’re supposed to make a commercial about anything? This could be fun, Eric grinned.

    This was a three a.m. lab at Full Sail Center for the Recording Arts in Winter Park, Florida. We were about to complete one of the last exercises to finish advanced recording. I started school there in July of 1990 just after I left the Army. It was an intensive, nine-month program to become a recording engineer, but it also covered a lot of other aspects of the music industry. Each class was roughly a month long and was packed with information. Classes were eight to ten hours a day with labs most nights. We were spending at least twelve hours a day in the program and sometimes more. Full Sail had seven studios packed with the most advanced recording gear in the world.

    Our instructors were music professionals with years of experience in their areas of expertise. Our live sound expert had just received a brand new Corvette as a bonus for his work on the Tiffany Mall Tour. He also toured with Van Halen as a guitar tech, with Hank Williams, Jr. working the monitor board, and with others doing various live work. We liked teasing him about going straight from Van Halen to Tiffany, but music people work where there’s work. It earned him a Corvette! All of them had experience like that.

    Charlie had worked a lot recording commercials and promo spots. He’d also done some studio work with various singing acts. He was a funny, little, stoner guy in his late-twenties with long hair. At the moment, he was waiting to see what we could create at three in the morning.

    Let’s do one of those 1-900 commercials…you know like that one with the chick with the accent, Rob suggested.

    I don’t want to get too raunchy, Eric said. He was a fun guy but not quite as crazy as the rest of us.

    No, it’ll be something that could go on TV, Rob pressured.

    You mean that woman who says, 'Cawl me. I want you to cawl me. You know you want to. It’s one noyn hundred…noyn noyn oh…noyn oh…noyn oh,’ in that Jersey accent? I asked. That woman’s horrible. I wouldn’t pay to hear that voice. It’s terrible!

    It was a commercial that played on local TV in the middle of the night. We’d all seen it after our late-night labs, and it was horrible.

    It doesn’t have to sound just like her. Just improvise, Rob said.

    Let’s give it a shot, Charlie said as he fired up the NEVE.

    A NEVE recording console cost more than $100,000 at that time. All told, we were probably playing with a quarter

    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1