Nearly eight months of speculation, anticipation and uncertainty will end later this week for hundreds of soldiers in the Lehigh Valley region serving in the Pennsylvania National Guard. The U.S. Department of Defense is expected to announce when the 28th Division's 56th Stryker Brigade's 4,000 members will leave for Iraq, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chris Cleaver.
The early-2009 departure date will represent the Pennsylvania National Guard's largest call-up since the invasion of Iraq and is part of the Pentagon's plan to order roughly 30,000 troops to Iraq early next year in a move that would allow the U.S. to maintain 15 combat brigades in the country through next year.
''The Stryker Brigade has had its mobilization orders for a period of time,'' Cleaver said. ''The latest announcement, to be made early [this] week, confirms the timetable.''