| Mississippi guardsmen denied leave for katrina { September 11 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active) http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-kattroops_11tex.ART.State.Edition2.424745f.htmlhttp://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-kattroops_11tex.ART.State.Edition2.424745f.html
Mississippi Guardsmen denied leave 12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, September 11, 2005
The Washington Post
BAGHDAD, Iraq – Scores of Mississippi National Guard troops in Iraq who lost their homes to Hurricane Katrina have been refused 15-day leaves to aid their displaced families, according to members of the Guard.
Commanders told them that there were too few U.S. troops in Iraq to spare them, Guard members said.
About 600 members of the Mississippi Guard's 155th Brigade Combat Team, posted south of Baghdad, live in the parts of southern Mississippi and southeast Louisiana hit hardest by Katrina, Maj. Neil Murphy Jr., a military spokesman, said by e-mail Saturday.
Guard members and relatives said that virtually all of the roughly 300 soldiers of 155th Brigade's B and C companies had their homes destroyed or severely damaged in the hurricane. Maj. Murphy said that 80 members of the Mississippi Guard have been granted emergency leave.
The rest have been told by their brigade command that all other forward operating bases "are tapped out and cannot send troops," one Mississippi Guard member wrote in an e-mail.
The message was shared by a family member, with the guardsman's permission, on condition of anonymity.
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