Idaho guardsmen deploy

Another group of Idaho Army National Guard soldiers will leave Boise today for training in Colorado before joining the 116th Brigade Combat Team serving in northern Iraq, the Guard’s spokesman in Boise said.

The 116th was deployed in December with some positions left unfilled, said Lt. Col. Tim Marsano. The 20 soldiers departing for Fort Carson, Colo., today will fill those positions. Soldiers in this group come from all over Idaho, including Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston.

“These type of troop movements are expected to take place for the next several months,” Marsano said.

The 20 leaving today are qualified in different military specialties and will receive “mission-specific training” at Fort Carson, Marsano said. The group will join about 4,300 brigade members now serving in Kirkuk and other areas of northern Iraq where they provided security for the recent national elections.

The new group will return from Iraq with the rest of the brigade in early 2006, Marsano said.