Families of the 200 members of the American Samoa Army Reserve are trying to deal with a mobilisation order that could see their relatives serve in Iraq.
Brigadier General John Ma, the Commander of the Pacific Army Reserve, says the local soldiers are looking at a deployment period of 18 months.
The Brigadier General says they should report to Schofield Barracks, Hawaii for training by August 18:
"I know in American Samoa, there may be some challenges in terms of the airflow, so we're working that issue, and hopefully we can get all the American Samoan soldiers up here at Schofield Barracks by the 18th of August."
Right now, we're looking at having them trained at Schofield Barracks till about the end of September, focussing primarily on individual-type training, and then they will be moving to the mainland, Fort Bliss, Texas, for what we call collective training.
