Boone-based Guard Unit's Iraq Tour Extended

A unit of Army National Guard soldiers based in western North Carolina will stay in Iraq for up to four months beyond its one-year deployment as part of President Bush's troop buildup plan. The 1451st Transportation Company, headquartered in Boone, is the first National Guard unit in the state to be affected by the plan Bush announced two weeks ago. The soldiers were expected to return home in March or April, but under a 125-day extension they could arrive back as late as August. The unit, which has detachment headquarters in Morganton and Marion, has 175 soldiers from 10 counties mostly in the western part of the state. The unit's soldiers move supplies around Iraq and provide security for convoys. Four soldiers in the unit have been wounded in combat.



The 1451st is in its first deployment to Iraq though 39 of its soldiers had been deployed to the country before. The unit is attached to a larger National Guard unit in Minnesota.