UPDATE 12-02-04: I was contacted today by Michaele Ballard, a reporter for PEOPLE Magazine. They are looking for non-obligated reservists who have been called back into service. Particulary people in North and South Carolina who are willing to talk. If you are interested, here is the contact information for the PEOPLE Magazine reporter:
Michaele Ballard, Charlotte, NC - (704) 554-7431 or msmike3@carolina.rr.com
UPDATE 7-26-04: I hope those that have stumbled upon this have found useful information from Army Steve's site which I linked to below. I'm amazed at the amount of attention this little innocent post has drawn - the other day, I received an e-mail from a reporter: Donna Leinwand of USA Today is looking for people on IRR who have been called to active duty. She is writing a story about how the IRR call up has affected people's lives. She call be reached by email at dleinwand@usatoday.com or by phone 703-899-8779.
I haven't blogged about this, but things have been a little crazy lately as there are two of “us” that cover the Small and Medium Business segment across Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana - and one of them (my counterpart) got orders to report for active duty and deployment to an “undisclosed location”. As you can imagine, he's spending his remaining time in the U.S. with his family and preparing to be gone for 12-18 months. That's left me to do two jobs...but I'm certain that's nothing compared to the stress that comes with being deployed to a foreign land and being shot at by “bad guys” while you're just trying to do your job. So, I just keep my chin up and remember that things could be worse.
Last week he sent out an email updating everyone on his status and attached a letter from the Chief of the Army Reserves. It's an interesting letter to read as it details what's going on from a mobilization perspective and some of the things that other men and women who are being activated might expect. I've posted it here (160K) if you're interested. Regardless of how you feel about the political side of things, always remember that it's normal people like you and me with a mortgage and 3 kids that are the ones that end up carrying out the orders...it's their job and they do a damn fine job of it IMO.
UPDATE 5-23-04: I forgot to mention the blog of another IRR member (Steve Smith) who is documenting his experiences going through this same situation. His wife is also blogging about the process from her perspective at the same site. You can visit their blogs at http://armysteve.com/.