39th receives formal deployment orders

By ArkansasOnline

Photo by Bryan Hendricks

Major General William Wofford addresses the public after officially taking command of the Arkansas National Guard. Wofford announced that the 39th received official orders to return to Iraq Monday.

ADVERSTISMENT

NORTH LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas National Guard's 39th Infantry Brigade has received notice it could ship out for an estimated yearlong deployment to Iraq sometime after Oct. 1, Arkansas' adjutant general said Monday.

Maj. Gen. Bill Wofford said the brigade's roughly 2,800 soldiers received notice of the possible deployment Friday. Wofford said the soldiers would begin to receive additional combat training between now and October.

Wofford stressed that the alert doesn't guarantee the brigade will deploy; however, he said it was likely.

An alert order has been expected for the 39th over the past several months. The 39th was deployed to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division in 2004-05.

Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.

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Information for this story was contributed by the Associated Press.