By Alabama Public Radio
Montgomery, AL – Seven Alabama National Guard units are now on alert for possible mobilization to support the war in Iraq. Guard spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Bob Horton says the order came from the U-S Defense Department. It affects nearly 15-hundred Alabama guard members. A total of 43-thousand National Guard and Reserve support troops were placed on alert nationwide. The Pentagon is planning to send 85-thousand Army and Marine combat forces to Iraq early next year. They will relieve the troops completing one-year tours. Alabama units included in the new alert are: the 115th Signal Battalion in Florence; the 711th Signal Battalion in Mobile; the 1206th and 1209th Quartermaster Detachments in Wetumpka; the 231st Military Police Battalion in Prattville; Company F of the 131st Aviation Regiment in Birmingham; and the 1303rd Engineer Team in New Brockton. Sixteen Alabama Guard units with about 21-hundred soldiers are already deployed for duty in Iraq.