Mobilized again! (and again, and....?)

When I first got back into the Army Reserve in January, I was a part of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR). I did not join a unit at first. I clicked the "volunteer" button on the Army Human Resources Command website, expecting that I would be mobilized for contingency operations. After all, that's what it's for. Nothing came of it, even after several months. It wasn't until after I joined a unit and made it known to the unit's mobilization officer that I was interested in an active duty tour that they called me to mobilize in response to a tasking they had received from DA.

So what's suddenly different?

Within the past three days I have been called twice by different Army Reserve units, asking me if I was available to mobilize with them. They said they had seen me listed in the IRR database as being an available volunteer for contingency operations. (One of them even said I was listed as a captain. I have no idea how that is possible, since I have been a major for years). They both expressed great surprise that I had been "out there" for that long and hadn't been called already. One of them was even with a unit I tried to join a few months ago, but decided not to because they wanted me to jump through too many hoops.

I know for a fact that at least one person in the unit I just left who had the same military background as I do was involuntarily mobilized and sent to Iraq during that time. I suppose it's just a case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing, which is understandable in a large organization like this. Still, it seems kind of lame that I was listed as available for all those months and never got a call, when people who didn't want to go were snatched up and sent off on short notice involuntarily.

Oh, well - I'm on my way now.