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CEDAR CITY, Utah (AP) -- About 500 members of a southern Utah National Guard unit will be reporting for duty later this month.
The Utah National Guard 222nd Field Artillery Unit received its mobilization orders Saturday. Guardsmen from Cedar City, St. George, Beaver and Richfield are to report for duty on March 15 and will deploy three days later.
"They have been on alert for the last week," Lt. Col. Brad Blackner said. "If the battalion has too many people in it, then some will get left home. And if it doesn't have enough, then they will pull people from other units."
Men and women from the 222nd will be sent to the mobilization station in Fort Carson in Colorado where they will go through the soldier-readiness process to receive more individual training, be fitted for biochemical/nuclear suits, and put in order financial, medical and personal information.
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"The family support program is there and families will be briefed on what will happen," Blackner added.
The battalion's mobilization order does not mean it will be deployed to the Middle East, though some elements from the 142nd military intelligence unit from St. George were sent there, Blackner said.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
