I didn't know that!

My nextdoor neighbor is packing right now to fly to Kansas to welcome home her hubby from Iraq. He's been there for 15 months. Nothing unusual in the military community, it's all too common, really. BUT...she's spending 9 days there with him (he's stationed there, she and the girls live here in Alabama...it's a retirement thing, long story) because she just found out the Army is calling up her former MOS (military occupational specialty) by five-year-increments, to active duty for deployment, so she's spending as much time with him as possible in case SHE gets deployed before he retires in February.

Okay, I've heard of it. I knew that everybody who gets out of the military stays on 'ready reserve' for 8 years, where they can call you back up to active service if they need you. Problem is, my neighbor got out SEVENTEEN YEARS AGO!

Why, oh WHY can they call her back to service now? Well, her job in the Army was military intelligence. Nobody told her till she got out that she was pretty much NEVER going to be completely out. They can call her back up to active service till she's dead, pretty much. It's all part and parcel of being MI. For one, the Army is always short on MI guys, and the ready reserve is a quick way to up the population count. Second, the Army retains the ability to call anyone in intelligence circles back to active duty if they're caught double-crossing the American government so they can be tried for treason. OUCH.

I'm glad Pete didn't go MI. Jon too! Yikes! Talk about a "lifer"!