AUGUSTA (AP) – An Augusta-based Maine Army National Guard unit that oversees engineer battalions is being mobilized for deployment to Iraq, a Guard spokesman said.

Eighty members of the 240th Engineer Group are receiving orders this week for Iraq duty. One of the group’s battalions, the 133rd Engineer Battalion, was stationed in northern Iraq from early 2004 until early this year.

None of the guard members who previously served in Iraq will have to return, according to Maj. Michael Backus, spokesman for the Maine National Guard.

As the deployment was announced, Maj. Gen. John “Bill” Libby, who heads the Maine National Guard and Department of Defense, Veterans and Emergency Management, returned Tuesday night from a trip to Iraq, where he visited the 100-plus members of the 152nd Maintenance Co. stationed in Baghdad. Libby left for Iraq on Saturday.

“He wanted to connect with his soldiers over there and see how they were doing and get their input while they were over there, kind of keep his thumb on the pulse,” said Backus.

Members of the 240th had been scheduled for deployment when the 133rd left last January, so the latest orders did not come as a surprise, Backus said.

“The few that I know of . . . have been excited to go,” Backus said. “They had not gone before, and they’re kind of anxious to go.”

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Information from: Portland Press Herald, http://www.pressherald.com

AP-ES-11-02-05 1030EST

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