State Sen. Rusty Crowe of Johnson City says members of a northeast Tennessee National Guard unit might get to spend
Thanksgiving with their families. The Johnson City Press reported Crowe saying Tennessee Adj. Gen. Gus Hargett has been trying to arrange the leave for about 80 members of the 776th Maintenance Company, now training at Camp Atterbury in Indiana. Crowe said a training flight was already scheduled for one of the Tennessee Air National Guard’s C-130 cargo planes. National Guard spokesman Randy Harris said the soldiers have three-day passes for the holiday and could hitch rides on the training flight on a space-available basis. Harris cautions Guard members could be bumped by passengers with higher-priority need to fly or the flight could be canceled for bad weather. The 776th was mobilized last month for eventual deployment to the Middle East.