LA , MS natl guard in Iraq hit by Katrina...army: enlist in the reg army

[bobbieinok]

sorry if this has already been posted

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9245073/

CAMP VICTORY, Kuwait - Hundreds of soldiers from a New Orleans National Guard unit begin leaving Thursday to return to the devastation left by Hurricane Katrina. Guard officials said 80 percent lost homes or jobs and some had not heard from relatives since the storm.

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“The focus isn’t necessarily on the Army right now. The focus is on you and your family,” said Byrne, director of military personnel management.
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Of the U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 256th was hit hardest by Katrina, particularly Roger’s New Orleans-based unit, the 1st Battalion, 141st Field Artillery Regiment.

545 soldiers ‘drastically’ affected
The brigade has 545 soldiers “drastically” affected by the disaster, and almost 300 of those are in the artillery battalion, said Lt. Col. Debbie Haston-Hilger, U.S. military spokeswoman in Kuwait.

Fifty battalion soldiers still hadn’t been able to contact some relatives as of Monday, Haston-Hilger said. Some family members are thought to have perished.

The Mississippi National Guard’s 155th Brigade Combat Team, based in western Iraq, had 300 soldiers affected by the disaster, Haston-Hilger said. The 155th isn’t scheduled to finish its tour until January.

more....


*******NOTE Army has further 'help' *********

Byrne and his Pentagon comrades laid out options for the Louisianans, recommending that rather than return quickly to a disrupted civilian life, they remain on active duty at Fort Polk and bring their families there to stay. Byrne said the soldiers could also enlist in the regular Army.

“If you go back to Louisiana or Mississippi and your house is gone, it gives you another option,” he said.

[MichiganVote]

1. I thought they had to serve in Lousiana, NO in particular