Getting your player ready...
Six months in training, and 16 straight months at war in Iraq: No unit, according to a congressional proclamation, had a longer continuous deployment on the ground there than the 1st Brigade Combat Team/34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard.
And no unit’s loved ones endured a separation that lasted so long.
The story of this hard deployment — and of the relationships that held fast across thousands of miles — is the subject of The Long Haul, a seven-part narrative by Associated Press National Writer Sharon Cohen.
Follow the families and the troops from departure to their return home starting today at
