BANGOR (AP) – A Maine Army National Guard company has been deployed from a New Jersey air force base to the Middle East.

The 1136th Transportation Company, a Bangor-based unit that has a Sanford detachment, flew out Wednesday from McGuire Air Force Base.

The company’s 120 member have been training nearby at Fort Dix, N.J., since their activation in February. After several weeks in New Jersey, members were eager to be deployed to the Middle East.

“They’ve been training and training and training, and they just want to get involved,” said Maj. Peter Rogers, a guard spokesman.

The company is responsible for moving water, petroleum and other cargo in containers, operating about 70 tactical trailer trucks that can be used on or off the road.

“Depending on their mission, which they’ll get once they arrive, they’ll perform wartime duty, transporting cargo to and from the battlefield,” Rogers said. “We don’t know what battlefield.”

Though Saddam Hussein’s Iraqi regime has been toppled, work remains to be done, Rogers said.

“There are still pockets of resistance,” Rogers said. “Because of their mission, to resupply cargo or bulk water, these guys will be needed over there.”

The company includes about 45 people from the Sanford detachment and about 75 from the Bangor area.

AP-ES-04-17-03 0217EDT



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