The 1st Brigade Combat Team/34th Infantry Division of the Minnesota National Guard consisted of about 5,000 soldiers, about half of them from the Minnesota unit and the rest from states across the nation.

Supplementing them were an Iowa Army National Guard unit, the 1st Battalion 133rd Infantry, 2nd Brigade, and one from the Nebraska Army National Guard, the 1st Battalion 167th RSTA.

There were varying numbers of soldiers from 33 other states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Michigan, Montana, New York, North Carolina, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

Nearly 80 percent of the soldiers were from the Army National Guard; the remainder were from the Army Reserve or active duty units.

The Kentucky units were B Company, 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor out of Marion, Ky.; and C Company, 2nd Battalion, 123rd Armor, out of Benton, Ky., according to David Altom, a spokesman for the Kentucky National Guard. The units were deployed from March 2006 to July 2007, according to Altom, and provided force protection. About 40 soldiers deployed with each of the two Kentucky units, Altom said.

Sources: The Minnesota National Guard, Kentucky National Guard.