Understanding the Individual Ready Reserve

  • Published
  • By Capt. Caroline Wellman
  • 445th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio --  The 445th Airlift Wing here hosted more than 175 members of the Individual Ready Reserve May 15.

The fully trained Airmen, who are fulfilling service obligations after separating from active duty or a participating Air Guard or Air Force Reserve program, gathered in the Maj. Leroy W. Homer Jr. Operations Building at the direction of the Air Reserve Personnel Center.

"We bring the people in for a half-day, about four hours, of briefings to let them know what benefits they're eligible to receive," Tech. Sgt. Linda Pantoja, a career assistance advisor in the 445th Military Personnel Flight who helped organize the local muster.

"They also go through a medical screening and we collect updated information from them, like address and name changes, and issue them a new ID card."

IRR entitlements include base access, use of the base exchange and commissary, and use of base fitness facilities.

The entitlements do come at a price, however. According to fact sheets from the Air Reserve Personnel Center, "IRR members may be ordered to return to active duty involuntarily in the event of war, national emergency, or as prescribed by the Secretary of Defense."

The muster process allows the Air Force to maintain periodic contact with the roughly 58,000 former Airmen assigned to the IRR in an effort to enhance readiness and improve the nation's ability to respond to crises.

Locally, the 445th Airlift Wing Reserve Recruiters have traditionally used IRR musters as recruiting events, informing members of their eligibility to return to the participating Air Force Reserve.

"We use it as an opportunity to rekindle interest in the Air Force Reserve by emphasizing that membership has its privileges," said Senior Master Sgt. Pamela Pete, the senior Air Force Reserve recruiter here. "We do that by helping them remember the camaraderie they felt when they were participating previously [and by] letting them know their experience, their skill set is very useful for the Air Force Reserve."

Enlisted IRR members are generally fulfilling remaining military service obligations, unexpired enlistment contracts or other service commitments and remain in non-participating status in the IRR until the commitment expires. They will then be discharged from the IRR unless stop-loss provisions prevent such a personnel action.
According to ARPC, officers are not normally discharged from the Air Force unless they resign their commission submitting a letter to ARPC.