Individual Ready Reserve

Because members of the IRR rarely serve on extended active duty and are not retired from military service, most are not eligible for TRICARE.

Upon being called up, service members will usually be screened for their medical and personal status in order to qualify or disqualify them for activation.

During the process, IRR members who seek to delay, defer, or exempt their activations have the opportunity to present their case to the mobilization authority for a decision.

This authority has particular utility when used in circumstances in which the escalatory national or international signals of partial or full mobilization would be undesirable.

Forces available under this authority can provide a tailored, limited-scope, deterrent or operational response, or may be used as a precursor to any subsequent mobilization.

[8] A major difficulty in activating the IRR stems from the fact that many of its members, typically those from the junior enlisted ranks, are unaware that they are even in the military.

This results from such members typically being informed that they are "discharged" upon release from active duty when in fact they have been transferred to the inactive reserves.

To solve this situation, many military separation transition courses now spend additional time explaining the nature of the inactive reserve.

So far, two major activations have occurred, targeting mostly corporals and sergeants and those with high-demand training (combat arms, logistics, maintenance, etc.).