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Yumul faces one-year deployment to Iraq
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Posted on Jul 09 2008
Saipan Rep. Ray N. Yumul will take a one-year break from his lawmaking duties to serve in the U.S. military.
Yumul, who is serving his second term as a member of the House of Representatives, is one of the 80 local members of the U.S. Army Reserve who have been called to active duty recently.
The reservists will leave in batches early next week. They will head to Fort Liggett in California to undergo one month of military training. They are expected to report for deployment to the Middle East shortly after the training.
Yumul, 35, said he would return in September 2009 to serve out the last four months of his term.
This is the second time Yumul will be away on military duty while in office. He spent about one year and a half of his first term serving in Iraq.
“Personally, I would rather be here working at the Legislature and helping solve the Commonwealth’s problems with the power crisis and dwindling resources. But this is an involuntary deployment. I am obliged to go,” he said.
Rep. Victor Hocog is expected to take over the House Committee on Ways and Means Committee, which is chaired by Yumul, during the latter’s absence. House Speaker Arnold I. Palacios will control the expenditures of Yumul’s office.
Yumul will continue to be paid his salary as a lawmaker while he is away.
Yumul said he expects to be assigned in Kuwait, but conducting convoy operations in and out of Iraq.
