There's a possibility that local army reservists in US Pacific territiories may get an early call up for service in Iraq.
The head of the Hawaii Army National Guard, Major General Robert Lee said yesterday that the Pentagon may alert Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers that they should be ready to go to Iraq or Afghanistan as early as next year.
Maj. Gen. Lee, told the Honolulu Advertiser about 2,200 members of the 29th Brigade Combat Team could return to a war zone sometime late in 2008 or early in 2009.
That would be less than three years after an identical number of Hawai'i Guard and Reserve soldiers returned from a one-year tour in Iraq
More than 1,000 soldiers from American Samoa, Guam and the Mainland were also part of that deployment.
The Army Reserve's 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry of which American Samoa is a part, falls under the National Guard's 29th Brigade and means that Reserve as well as Guard soldiers would be subject to a call-up.
