Ask Mr. Answer Person: "Where do members of the 322nd Engineering Company comes from?"

There has been a lot of interest in the home towns of the members of the 322nd Engineering Battalion, which is being deployed to Afghanistan from Decorah for a 400 day tour of duty.

It's true that when Company B of the 389th Engineering Battalion was in operation out of Decorah there were more Decorah natives serving in the unit. Now that the unit has been renamed the 322nd Engineer Company the 160 members come from all over the country.

19 states are represented in the unit--including Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois, but also including Texas, Washington, Colorado and even Hawaii.

Of the 160 members of the 322nd Engineer Company, the deployment to Afghanistan is the first overseas deployment for 91 of the members.