Students await possible call-up

Junior Eric Cross tries to live as normal a life as possible. \nHe goes to class. He spends time with his girlfriend.\nBut each day he waits for the phone call that could change his life.\nCross is a full-time student studying biology; he is also a member of the 2nd of the 150th division of the Indiana National Guard in Bloomington.\nWhile there are many military personnel currently on active duty, there are many more waiting to be called. \nThere are about 95,000 total military units on active duty, including 23 Bloomington Reserve personnel. There are also about 2,100 Indiana residents currently working for the military and about 1,400 of those are members of the Indiana National Guard, according to numbers released Jan. 29 by the U.S. Department of Defense.\nMembers of the National Guard and Reserves still at home must live their normal lives, knowing at any time they could be called to serve. \nAnd there are some IU students still awaiting their orders -- including Cross. \nBut IU Reserve Officer Training Cadets would not be called to duty, said Major James Wagner. He said once the students contract with ROTC, they stay in that program until they receive their commission.\nGeorgann Wilson is a certifying official at IU. She receives all the orders from military units when a student is put in action. \nShe said the orders are faxed to the school from each respective unit, then she handles the paperwork for the Office of the Registrar. Wilson said the students are given a refund when they are called up.\nEarlier this semester she said she processed as many as four students per week.\nCross said it is unlikely his unit would be called to active duty any time soon, though. His unit is an artillery division, and he said officials have mostly been calling up infantry units.\nBut that could soon change.\nPentagon officials have said the number of National Guard and reserve troops placed on active duty would increase almost 100 percent by Feb. 15 for a possible war with Iraq, with many going to the Persian Gulf, according to The Associated Press.\nCross said he is excited for the chance to go overseas so that he could serve his country.\n"Part of me would love to go," he said. "I would love the experience and the time in. But another part says 'to finish school -- get on with your life.'"\nCross said if he does get the call he would be ready to go.\n"I think I'd spend a few days with my girlfriend, but other than that I'm ready," he said.\nCross said the process takes a while before he would see military action. He said if he was called to duty, he would meet up with his unit in Bloomington, then get shipped to Camp Atterbury, near Edinburgh, Ind. There, Cross and his artillery unit would be trained for a while before they would be shipped to Fort Sill, Okla., the base in charge of training all artillery units in the United States. \nEven if Cross' unit was called to duty, he said it might be a while before he was sent overseas. He said one of his friends was called up before the end of the year, but hasn't been sent off yet.\nCross said the reason is because Camp Atterbury is backed up trying to get so many people ready for military action.\nHe said his friends would be supportive if his unit was called.\n"A lot of them are proud of me that I'd be willing to go," he said. "I don't think it's clicked for them. They're not affected by the war in their day-to-day lives"