Okla. plans to send Guard home for holidays

[unhappycamper]

Okla. plans to send Guard home for holidays
By Ron Jenkins - The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Nov 10, 2007 16:33:37 EST

OKLAHOMA CITY — Gov. Brad Henry has announced a project to give 2,600 Oklahoma National Guard troops a free trip home for the Christmas holiday before they deploy to Iraq.

“Operation Holiday Homecoming” seeks to raise $600,000 to enable Oklahoma soldiers to be home from Dec. 23 to Jan. 2.

“We need Oklahomans to chip in and help out,” Henry said.

He said without assistance, many Oklahoma soldiers will not be able to afford paying their way home for the holiday. Department of Defense regulations preclude the Army from paying for the soldiers’ trip home while they are on leave.

The members of the 45th Infantry Brigade are now training at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, and are expected to be sent to Iraq in January after their 10-day holiday leave.

The funds to be raised will go toward covering the cost of buses to be used to transport the soldiers to Oklahoma and to provide meals.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/11/ap_oklahoma_guard_071109/

[aquart]

1. But they can pay millions for mercenaries?

Soon we'll have soldiers begging with a bowl for gruel.