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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Recent military buildups include more than 2,000 Utah troops -- the most ever -- as the nation readies for possible war with Iraq.
On Tuesday the U.S. Army Reserve's 96th Regional Support Command announced the mobilization of up to 449 additional Army Reservists based in Salt Lake City and Provo.
They include up to 102 soldiers of the 395th Finance Battalion. The group provides centralized finance support for units in the field.
Also activated are as many as 181 soldiers of the 478th Adjutant General Battalion. The unit manages combat-essential personnel.
And up to 166 soldiers from the 786th Quartermaster Company, petroleum distribution experts from Provo, are now activated.
The latest call-ups bring the total to 2,128, counting all Utah reservists and National Guard members from various branches of the service who have donned their uniforms for the impending conflict.
Altogether, more than 110,000 National Guard and reserve forces are now serving around the nation and overseas.
In its weekly accounting of those called to active duty, the Pentagon said Wednesday that the number mobilized has jumped by some 17,000 in the past week, the third consecutive large weekly increase and second largest since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on America.
That brings the total now serving to 111,600, said Lt. Col. Dan Stoneking, a Pentagon spokesman.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
