Possible good news for a NC National Guard unit. It looks like 5,000 may return from Iraq in January 2005. Of course, it’s entirely realistic that this won’t happen, pending the crap going on in Fallujah. The rug can get cruelly jerked out from under them. (AP):

[Lt. Gen. Roger Schultz, director of the Army National Guard] Schultz was interviewed Friday at a conference of military reporters and editors in Arlington, Va. The 30th Heavy Separate Brigade left North Carolina in February and March. Its members have been responsible for security and other duties in a broad area of Iraq northeast of Baghdad.

Schultz said that a replacement unit for the 30th has already begun arriving in Iraq. Tens of thousands of fresh troops will rotate into the country this winter. The old and new units will overlap in January to bolster security for the planned national elections in Iraq.