Montana Guard gets alert notice

HELENA - A Montana National Guard infantry battalion was put on alert Monday for possible deployment to Iraq, as part of a notice also issued by the Pentagon to four major units in New York, Louisiana, Idaho, Oregon and Tennessee.

Maj. Scott Smith, public affairs officer for the Montana Army Guard, said the notification is routine procedure in advance of possible mobilization and does not mean a particular unit will be called to active duty.

''We don't know who they're going to take and who they're not,'' he said. ''We don't know if they will take the entire unit or part of it.''

The units put...