National Guard unit to return from Iraq to Katrina

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A National Guard unit based in New
Orleans will return from the war in Iraq on Saturday to deal
with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and the flood that
followed, a spokeswoman said on Monday.

“We have got several hundred soldiers that are coming back
from a year in combat to this,” said Samantha Bingham, a
spokeswoman for Fort Polk, an army base northwest of New
Orleans.

“Many, many of them are from southern Louisiana,” Bingham
said in a telephone interview.

Several hundred members of the 2,800-strong 256th Army
National Guard’s 141st field artillery section are due to
return early on Saturday morning, Bingham said.

“That unit was headquartered out of New Orleans,” Bingham
said.

The members of the unit will be given immediate four-day
passes to give them time to figure out their situations, she
said. They will then be given the option of demobilizing from
active duty and going back to civilian life, Bingham said.

“They will also be given the option of going right back on
active duty and serving as National Guard soldiers in the
relief efforts,” she said.

“The soldiers who lost their homes and their families are
refugees, if they go back on active duty, they will be housed
at Fort Polk.” The rest will be the responsibility of the
National Guard, she said.

Bingham said Fort Polk was busy setting up temporary
housing in barracks for displaced members of the military and
would find family housing for the long term.