Rep. Bill OwensSARANAC LAKE, N.Y. -
Questions in northern New York about leave time for deployed soldiers.
Hundreds of New York National Guard soldiers, including dozens from the 108th Infantry in Morrisonville and Saranac Lake, are in the Middle East for a nine-month mission.
North Country Congressman Bill Owens says his office has received complaints from families that the Army is no longer granting leave time for soldiers to come home, in some cases after soldiers had already arranged travel plans. Owens has written a letter to Secretary of the Army John McHugh asking for an investigation.
"If they in fact they failed to give these men and women leave after they were promised it, after their families knew about it, I think it is a serious for the army and they have to address it," said Owens, D-New York.
The Army initially had not planned to offer any leave time during the nine-month deployment, then granted it, and now has suspended it.
Army Secretary McHugh is the former longtime congressman for New York's North Country.
