14 Dec 2005

Army reservists return home to American Samoa in time for xmas

2:15 pm on 14 December 2005

A group of army reservists from American Samoa which has just returned from Iraq is not expecting to return any time soon.

30 reservists from a 40 strong contingent of the 793rd engineering detachment arrived in Pago Pago this week, after a year long deployment in Iraq.

Our correspondent, Monica Miller, says the remaining ten are also expected to return home before xmas.

"As far as we know, they're now back to army reserve status. More than a year ago, they were activated as active members of the military. Now, they're back to being reservists which involves, I think, a monthly training programme for them just to get them ready for any time that they're called back."

Monica Miller says a further 200 army reservists, who are combat troops in Iraq, are expected to return to American Samoa in January.