Reservists alerted

A local U.S. Army Reserve unit has been issued a mobilization alert for possible deployment in a war against Iraq.

The alert -- which is a step below an actual mobilization order -- was issued this week to Bravo Company's 368th Engineer Combat Battalion.

The 368th is made up of construction engineers stationed at the Lawrence Poncin Army Reserve Center in Attleboro, Massachusetts.

Most soldiers in the unit have already seen front-line duty, spending most of 2000 as NATO peacekeepers in the war-torn Balkans.

The soldiers returned from Macedonia and the Yugoslav province of Kosovo in January 2001.