Members of the 145th Field Artillery Battalion, one of the largest units in the Utah National Guard yet to see action in Iraq or Afghanistan, have been alerted to a possible deployment in July.
    Members received letters this week advising of the mobilization, details of which the Guard will not publicly confirm.
    The battalion was one of the first large Utah Guard units to be mobilized after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, spending a year guarding military facilities in Tooele County. Many of the unit's members also have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan as volunteers and conscripts with other Army units.
    For instance, at least 40 of about 450 soldiers in the battalion deployed with the 222nd Field Artillery to Ramadi, Iraq, in 2005.
    Utah Guard officials declined to say whether 145th members who have already participated in combat deployments would be called up as part of this mobilization. "In the event that any of these soldiers do deploy, it's way too soon to say who will deploy," Guard spokesman Hank McIntire said.
    However, the Utah guard's top soldier, Adjutant Gen. Brian Tarbet, said in January that all of his soldiers, including those recently returned from overseas, would be considered eligible for immediate additional deployments under new rules aimed at ensuring the military has enough troops to meet its obligations.
    At that time, Tarbet said he hoped to keep soldiers who recently returned from combat from having to go back, but made no promises.
    The unit's soldiers can expect a period away from home of no more than one year. The Army committed in January to ending the 18-month cycles for its reservists, bringing pre-deployment training down to three months and "boots on the ground" time to nine months.
    In the summer of 2005, the 145th retired its Howitzer-style artillery pieces to take charge of new Paladin weapons systems. At the time, then-battallion commander Dallen Atack said the change would make his unit "more relevant to the future missions of the Army."
    mlaplante@sltrib.com
   
   
Deployment terms
   
* The 145th Field Artillery soldiers can expect to be away for a year or less.
    * The Army committed in January to ending the 18-month cycles for reservists, bringing pre-deployment training down to three months and "boots on the ground" time to nine months.