N.J. National Guard airmen head for Iraq

Scores of New Jersey Air National Guard airmen with the 108th Air Wing were deployed yesterday and others were set to leave today for six months of duty in Iraq.

About 60 members from the 108th Civil Engineer Squadron left from Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in Burlington County. Half are from Burlington, Camden, Gloucester, Mercer, and Atlantic Counties.

The airmen will help set up and maintain air bases, wiring them for electrical power, repairing runways, and erecting tents and other structures.

They were training this month at Tyndall Air Force in Florida when they were visited by their employers as part of a "Bosslift" program arranged by Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, a Defense Department agency. - Edward Colimore