http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=IRAQ-RESERVES-11-06-03&cat=WWWASHINGTON - America's so-called weekend warriors have been dying in much higher numbers in Iraq since President Bush announced the end of major combat.
Members of the National Guard and units of the Army and Marine Reserves accounted for less than 9 percent of fatalities during the initial phase of the war, but more than 21 percent since May 1, according to a study of Pentagon reports by Scripps Howard News Service.
The reason, military officials say, is that reservists have been trained in critically needed post-combat skills like law enforcement, civil administration and transportation.
"I'm going to a funeral Friday for one of my military policeman and I have several more who are wounded," said Mark Bowen, adjutant general of the Alabama National Guard. "We are the combat services' support units who provide the beans and the bullets. And we also are the military police, and that's been a big deal."
Sgt. Aubrey Bell, 33, of Tuskegee, Ala., died Oct. 27 when the Al Bayra Police Station to which he was assigned was struck by an improvised explosive device. He was one of at least 24 military policemen who have died since major combat in Iraq officially ended.
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