By Brenna R. Kelly
The Cincinnati Enquirer

WALTON - More than 100 Northern Kentucky National Guard soldiers have been alerted they could be called to active duty.

The Walton-based 940th Military Police Company was told last week to be ready for a call-up.

The alert allows 186 soldiers, who are weekend soldiers with civilian jobs or school, to get their personal affairs in order in anticipation of a call-up, said the unit's commander Lt. Taylor Lyle.

Once the unit is alerted, it could be called up anytime, he said. "It could be 10 days or 10 months," he said. Or it could be canceled.

He tells the soldiers to be ready, but not too ready to be deployed.

"Don't go and sell your car and sit in the house waiting for us to come get you," Lyle said.

Though the alert coincides with reports of abuse of Iraqi prisoners by some members of the Military Police in Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, Lyle said there is no connection. "You can't correlate that in any way," he said. "We don't guard prisoners. That's another type of MP company."

His unit could be used to guard convoys, provide protection at bases, train Iraqi or Afghan police officers or even be on the battlefield.

The unit left Walton Friday morning for three days of training at Fort Knox.

The unit has been told it could be used in Operation Noble Eagle, Operation Iraqi Freedom or another mission, Lyle said.

That means they could stay in the United States at a military post, or be sent to Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait or Bosnia.

Though most of his soldiers are worried about being sent to Iraq, Lyle said he reminds them that any deployment will be tough.

"Even a deployment to Fort Knox an hour away would still be a hardship to our soldiers," Lyle said.

E-mail bkelly@enquirer.com