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Half of New Mexico's National Guard is slated to be sent to Iraq in 2010 - well above the deployments agreed on by the Guard Adjutant Gen. Kenny Montoya and Gov. Bill Richardson.

The Department of the Army plans for New Mexico's Guard deployments to total 1,600 members in 2010, Montoya said.

He and Richardson have said only 25 percent of the Guard should be deployed overseas because troops might be needed to deal with natural disasters in the state.

"If the Army tells us to do it, we will follow orders and do it. . . . But we are taking a risk back here at home," Montoya said.

Montoya said he has pledged that troops won't have to do a second tour of duty in a war zone unless they volunteer. That promise will become more difficult to keep in 2010, but Montoya said he believes it will be possible.

The Government Accountability Office said in January that New Mexico's Guard had the lowest level of equipment readiness among the nation's Guard forces at 35 percent, partly because of old rifles.