By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – Nearly 17 percent of about 640 Alabama Army National Guard soldiers expected to deploy to Iraq and Afghanistant from six state Guard units later this year are returning for at least a second tour.
According to figures from the National Guard Bureau, about 200-thousand Guard soldiers nationally have served in Iraq and Afghanistan since the September eleventh attacks and about 12 percent are serving at least a second tour.
Some of Alabama's returning soldiers have volunteered to go back because they wanted to fight terrorists or be with friends with whom they served in a previous tour. Another reason is the chance to earn full active duty military pay, combat supplements and other benefits, The Birmingham News reported today.
Eight Alabama Army Guard units with about eleven-hundred-20 soldiers are now in and around Iraq. Sixteen Army Guard members are in Afghanistan helping train members of the Afghan National Army.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)