WASHINGTON, January 26, 2004 -- Following a weekend visit with members of the 369th Transportation Battalion at Fort Dix, Cong. Rangel said their impending deployment to the Middle East highlighted the plight of reservists in the Iraq War.

"These are patriotic men and women in the truest sense of the word.  They are leaving their families behind to place themselves in harm's way with no complaint," Cong. Rangel said. 

The 59 members of the battalion have been training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in preparation for a February 12th deployment to Iraq.  They will be the second wave deployed to the war zone, following 169 members who shipped out last fall.

"A tremendous burden is being placed on these soldiers, some of them grandparents," Cong. Rangel said.  "They are not only leaving their families and loved ones behind, but their jobs in civilian life.

"It is grossly unfair that these soldiers and thousands of other reservists are being thrown into a war zone when they are actually weekend soldiers, trained to assist in  natural disasters and domestic disorders," Cong. Rangel said. "It is an outrage that, when they're in Iraq, their tours are being extended for as long as six months.

"Their plight highlights the failure of a policy in which the President rushed into a war without considering the number of troops we might actually need. Now, because of shortages of active duty soldiers, we are increasingly relying on reservists, up to a level that is expected by next spring to reach 40 percent of troops  on the ground in Iraq," Cong. Rangel said. 

"It's no secret how I feel about this war," Cong. Rangel said, "but these soldiers and their families know that they have my total support.  As I told them when  we first met last Christmas, my office is open to them and their families if they have any problems dealing with the government.  Most of all, I told them to take care of themselves and that our prayers are with them."