Pacific Magazine > Daily News

55 Tongan Troopers Headed To Iraq

Wednesday: August 20, 2008

(Radio New Zealand International)

The fourth group of Tongan Defense Force volunteers is on its way to Iraq for a six-month deployment, Radio New Zealand International reports.

Fifty-five volunteers are taking part in the latest Tongan deployment. The South Pacific force has not sustained any deaths or serious injuries.

“We don’t run short of volunteers. Everyone is quite keen to deploy. Yes we’re a volunteer force and we volunteer to deploy,” a Tongan Defense Force officer told RNZI.

Tonga is the only nation in the Pacific to send its own troops to either Iraq or Afghanistan. However, soldiers from American Samoa, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Guam and the Northern Marianas serving with U.S. forces are stationed in both countries, and nearly 50 have died.

Large numbers of Fijians who serve with British forces are also in the war zone, as are Fijians who work for defense contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.rnzi.com/pages/news.php?op=read&id=41537