By Associated Press
Undated, AL – The five years since the 2001 terror attacks have meant major changes to the Alabama National Guard. Before 9/11, members of the Guard and the Air National Guard could go years without leaving the state for anything but training at military bases around the South. Now, thousands of those same troops are veterans of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Five years after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington, Alabama's Guard has sent nearly 5,800 troops to war. It trails only the much larger states of Texas, California and North Carolina in the total number of members deployed first to Afghanistan and then Iraq. About 780 members of the Alabama Guard have served in Afghanistan. The Alabama Guard says another 5,000 of its troops have been deployed to Iraq. Five units with 970 total people are currently deployed overseas. And Guard spokesman Robert Horton says another six units with about 1,000 troops are preparing to leave for Iraq.