By Associated Press
Dothan, AL – Another group of soldiers assigned to an Alabama National Guard unit were placed on active duty this week and await deployment to Iraq.
A departure ceremony will be held Saturday at Northview High School in Dothan for 170 members of the 1203rd Engineer Battalion. The 1203rd is among five Guard units with some 600 personnel that will mobilize this month and in July.
The departure ceremony will start at 1 p-m. Brigadier General Fred Johnson, commander of the 62nd Troop Command in Montgomery, will speak to the troops and their families. The public is invited.
Currently, there are eight Alabama-based Guard units with more than 11-hundred soldiers supporting operations in Iraq.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)