National Guard expected home in SEPTEMBER as of 8-22-05

[steve2470]

National Guard's 256th expected home next month

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Soldiers from the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Brigade Combat Team could begin arriving home from Iraq as early as September, and all of them should be home by mid-October, a Guard spokesman said.

"There's still nothing concrete but we're planning for the first troops to start arriving in mid-September, and the rest will come back by mid-October," Lt. Col. Pete Schneider said.

The 256th Brigade Combat Team has been stationed in Baghdad, Iraq, since early November. It has units from Abbeville, Alexandria, Breaux Bridge, Crowley, Fort Polk, Houma, Jonesboro, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Napoleonville, Natchitoches, New Orleans, New Roads, Opelousas, Plaquemine, Shreveport and Winnfield.

The soldiers' first stop after a 24-hour trip from Kuwait will be Alexandria, Schneider said.

"We don't know which units will be arriving. We'll probably have 24 hours notice. As soon as we know, we're going to get that information out," he said.

Schneider said the first wave probably will include about 40 people who will be the advance party. Made up of administrative positions, this group will move to Fort Polk to set up the operations for debriefing the troops.

When troops land in Alexandria, he said, they will get four-day passes to spend time with their families, and their orders will be to report to Fort Polk for demobilization.

Soldiers in the 256th Brigade Combat Team, formerly known as the 256th Infantry Brigade (Mechanized), were placed on alert in March 2004.

In addition to the approximately 3,000 soldiers from Louisiana, units from New York, Minnesota, Washington, Wisconsin and Illinois are attached to the brigade.

The 256th left Louisiana in April 2004 for training at Fort Hood, Texas, then went to Fort Irwin, Calif., in August. The soldiers came back to Louisiana on leave in September, and began departing for Kuwait at the end of September.

Their convoy left for Iraq in late October and by the first of November had arrived to set up Camp Tigerland in Baghdad.

While in Iraq, the 256th has worked with the Iraqi Army and has helped train Iraqi recruits.



The troops also have worked on reconstruction projects to rebuild and improve businesses, schools and waterlines.

There have been 22 Louisiana soldiers with the 256th who died in combat, Schneider said. At least 10 soldiers with the 256th from other states have also been killed in combat.

http://www.slidellsentry.com/articles/2005/08/22/news/news11.txt

[katinmn]

1. Just in time (almost) to help with recovery efforts from Katrina!

How convenient.

Coincidence? No @#$@# way.

The Bushkovites know that NOLA needed the National Guard to evacuate people, but thanks to Bullshitter's greed, they were not available for the job they signed up for when needed.

[NYC]

2. A little late.

National Guard from other states should be sent NOW, in time to help with the evacuation.

Has Bush done anything like that?

[katinmn]

3. Normally it is top news when the Guard is called out. So I expect not.

It seems so strange. It's usually the first thing....

[NYC]

4. An ounce of prevention

is worth a pound of cure, as they say. Why would Bush not act to lessen a catastrophe when he KNOWS it is happening? Does the word "leadership" go through anyone's mind?