Every now and then, I check out the military news from East and Middle Tennessee. Ran into this here.

KCRA News
War Vet, 50, Stunned By New Deployment
Former Soldier Last Served During 1st Gulf War
Reported by Jeremy Finley
POSTED: 7:16 am PST January 2, 2009
UPDATED: 7:34 am PST January 2, 2009

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- A veteran who has been out of the military for 15 years and recently received his AARP card was stunned when he received notice he will be deployed to Iraq.

The last time Paul Bandel, 50, saw combat was in the early 1990s during the Gulf War.
...
In 1993, Bandel took the option of leaving the Army without retirement and never thought he would be called back to action.
...
Involuntary recall allows the military, regardless of age or how long someone has been out of service, to order vets back into active duty.
....
Calls to the Army and the Pentagon about how many men and women in their 50s are being called back to duty were not returned Wednesday.
No complaint from the guy. Probably, a number of people in the 278 ACR (NG from same area *) are in their 40's or 50's. This just seemed a bit odd to me.

Anybody enlighten me about how unusual this is ?

* Deployed OIF 2004-2005; possibly Astan next - see here and here.