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I would like to add to Ralph Peters’ proposal [“The Geezer Brigade,” July] by sug¬gesting an additional route for voluntary call up, namely drawing on the individ¬ual resources base. The active military has a solid individual augmentee pro¬gram targeted for critical positions in the force structure. My suggestion takes a different path. Why not conduct a volun¬tary call up of military retirees to serve as instructors? There is a talented pool of personnel who would be readily avail¬able. They would serve university ROTCs, service academies, officer and NCO schools and in Reserve and Guard units.

How would the voluntary call up of military personnel help the active-duty operations tempo? It would free up more active-duty personnel to serve in critical slots without denigrating the quality of the instructor base. Further, retirees would not have to meet the stringent medical requirements of Middle Eastern deployment.

I contend that with a minimum of retraining the augmentees would be ready to serve. Many of these individu¬als will have previously served as instructors in the military as a civilian. Their training and wealth of experi¬ences would be a valuable asset.

Col. Carl R. Carlan (ret.), Army

Former chair, Department of Education Leadership

University of Texas-Pan American

Edinburg, Texas