State Guard unit gets its second call to Iraq (Florida)

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Jun. 24, 2004




A FAMILY KEPT APART: Callie Johnson, with her son, Tyson, 4, holds a photo of her husband, William, who is scheduled to return to Iraq with his Florida National Guard unit. CARL JUSTE/HERALD STAFF

FLORIDA NATIONAL GUARD


State Guard unit gets its second call to Iraq

Soldiers of the Army National Guard's 144th Transportation Company from North Florida will go to Iraq for the second time.

BY PHIL LONG

[e-mail]


MARIANNA - Their lives have been disrupted by the military for the second time in a year, and their mission is one of the war's most dangerous.

About 130 truck drivers and their crews from the Florida National Guard's 144th Transportation Company have been mobilized for the second time since the Iraqi war began. The soldiers, based in this Panhandle town, are about to begin training at Fort Bragg, N.C., before going to Iraq later this summer.

''It was a shocker,'' said Callie Johnson, of Miami, whose husband, William, has been called up again. ``I thought it could be possible again, but you really don't think it will happen.''

This is the first Florida National Guard unit to be called up twice during a war that has grown increasingly dangerous and where many soldiers' tours of duty have been extended.
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http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/8997254.htm
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