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US families protest order extending reservists' Iraq tour

Hundreds of families of US reservists and National Guard soldiers are protesting against an order extending their stay in Iraq to a year or more as casualties mount.

Six-month overseas tours were the norm before the Iraq war and the new order only applies to reservists sent to Iraq.

Discontent about the extended deployments is spreading across Florida, Kansas, Minnesota and other states, family members said, with protest Web sites set up and lawmakers lobbied to get a change.

Some family members have also voiced surprise at duties being carried out in Iraq as the White House seeks another US$87 billion for military and reconstruction costs in Iraq.

Having to haul a golf kart on a tank transporter or a Sports Utility Vehicle belonging to senior officers angered some, according to the wife of one serviceman in Iraq.

Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat and former Army officer, met with some 100 National Guard relatives on Monday who oppose the extended tours.

Some family members who met Nelson also voiced criticism that their reservist husbands do not have bullet-proof vests like those issued to regular troops in Iraq.

Nelson and Democratic Congressman Dennis Moore of Kansas have sought a meeting and answers from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

Moore wrote to Rumsfeld this month expressing concern at the "care, and morale of our deployed troops."

The lawmakers have yet to receive a response.

"Every theatre is going to be different based on the mission requirements and the security situation there," US Army spokeswoman Alison Bettencourt said.

"In times of war, military families and military servicemen themselves are asked to make great sacrifices and I think that everyone at this level recognizes that," Bettencourt stressed.

One Kansas group recently set up www.129bringthemhome.com which had gathered 10,038 signatures by Tuesday, a gain of 945 signatures compared with late Monday.

The site calls on the Pentagon not to deploy reservists in Iraq for over a year.

Newlywed Amanda Bellew -- whose husband Specialist Jason Bellew is serving in Iraq with the 129th Transportation Company, a reserve unit -- said her husband had signed up as a reservist and not as a full-time soldier.

"We don't agree with what is going on with reservists and the National Guard and we're going to stand up to try and fight for what we believe in," Bellew said.

She said the Web site was set up by families of reservists in Iraq and that they hope to gather 50,000 signatures.
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