Paramilitary: October 8, 2004

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American army reservists are getting uneasy about the number of times they are being called to active duty. The rough rule-of-thumb now is one year, out of every five, on active duty. Most reservists can handle that, but many believe the army is heading for two years active duty every five years. Just on the strength of that rumor, officers are resigning, and enlisted troops not reenlisting. The officer problem is worst, partly because more enlisted troops actually make better money on active duty than they do in their civilian jobs. To try and replace the resigning officers, the army has been asking recently retired officers to come back, for a few years a least, to help fill the gap.