Guard duty yanks LDS off missions

POCATELLO, Idaho — As a missionary with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Garrett Hess didn't expect to be called to join his Idaho National Guard unit and eventually be shipped off to Iraq.

Hess, a private first class with the Guard's 116th Cavalry Brigade, learned he was mistaken.

"I thought it was a joke," said Hess, who was serving on a mission in Columbus, Ohio, when he heard the news. "But my mission president pulled me aside and said I might be sent home."

Hess, of Malad, said he and 21 other Guardsmen in his brigade returned from missions, some from as far away as Argentina, after receiving their orders. Hess returned to Idaho on May 25 and leaves this week on a tour that will eventually land him in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, Idaho Guard spokesman, said the Idaho Guard does not differentiate between its members.

"If the organization is called to active duty, members of that organization should be ready to take the call," he said.

Hess said he knew of no other time when missions were terminated for service orders. He doubts he will return to his mission upon returning from Iraq.

"They wouldn't advise it," he said. "But I could."

In Utah, the Utah National Guard has declined to interrupt current LDS missions of its Guardsmen.

"We determined at the beginning of this, 18 months ago, that we have a lot of soldiers on LDS missions who are a part of MI (military intelligence) units and unless it was critical or emergency type situations, we wouldn't pull them back," Lt. Col. Brad Blackner, of the Utah National Guard said Sunday.

Blackner said Maj. Gen. Brian Tarbet, of Utah, made the call. Soldiers who had not yet been sent on a LDS mission would be deployed with the mobilization of their units, he said.