Guard soldiers placed on alert

[Drakeshead]

Members of at least six Mississippi Army National Guard units have been told they might be mobilized for duty in the Middle East, military leaders say.

"We've got about 850 soldiers that have been alerted in various units throughout the state," said Maj. Gen. Harold A. Cross, Mississippi's adjutant general. "The alert order means to get ready ... It stabilizes the unit and gets them prepared to be mobilized."

Cross told The Associated Press that the alert doesn't necessarily mean the soldiers will be called to duty, but chances are likely they will. He said the affected soldiers have been notified.

"There will be a continuation of that throughout this war," Cross said. "That's going to mean that within the next six months, our population of fighting forces (the Mississippi Guard) in (the Middle East) will increase to somewhere around 600 to 800."

The units were not alerted in response to President Bush's recent increase in troop levels to help stabilize the volatile situation in Baghdad, Cross said.

Nationwide, nearly 13,000 National Guard troops are expected to be notified soon that they could be mobilized for missions in Iraq around the first of the year, military officials say.

Those soldiers are from Oklahoma, Indiana, Arkansas and a state that has yet to be named.

There are already 240 Mississippi Guard soldiers and airmen in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait. But some of those soldiers will be coming home before the others would deploy, Cross said.

Eighty-four members of the Houston-based 288th Engineer Company received mobilization orders this week. Most of those soldiers were pulled from a list of nearly 150 troops who had volunteered to return to the Middle East, Cross said.

"There is a pool of soldiers that want to repeat service. So as long as we have volunteers that have the (needed) skills, we will let them go back," Cross said.

Mississippi units on alert for possible duty:

1387th Quartermaster Water Supply Co., based in Greenville, about 197 soldiers.

113th Military Police Co., based in Brandon, about 182 soldiers.

1st Battalion, 185th Aviation, headquartered in Tupelo, about 150 soldiers.

1108th AVCRAD, based in Gulfport, about 100 soldiers.

231st Survey-Design Team, Gulfport, about 14 soldiers

230th Concrete Platoon, based in Purvis, about 12 soldiers.

[QUACKERS]

[regishay]

Here some more news concering tours of duty. Looks like these folks are going to be away for a while.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070411/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/iraq_us_troops

[Drakeshead]