Irene strands Wis. unit returning from Afghanistan
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Tropical Storm Irene stranded an Army Reserve combat engineering unit from Wausau on the way home from Afghanistan.
Angie Servi, the family readiness group leader with the 428th Engineer Company, says about 120 Wisconsin soldiers were stuck at Fort Dix in New Jersey, which shut down Saturday while Irene was still a hurricane. They were supposed to fly home Sunday.
Fort Dix is east of Philadelphia and about 30 miles west of the Atlantic coast.
Servi told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (http://bit.ly/pHOrKw) the soldiers had been demobilizing at Fort Dix since returning from Afghanistan on Aug. 19. But Servi says it wasn't possible to get them out before the storm, and they weren't sure if they'd be able to fly out Monday. (Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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