INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Some 3,400 Indiana National Guard soldiers from the 76th Infantry Brigade are receiving their orders that they will be put on active duty, possibly to Iraq.

The exact date of the deployment hasn't been made public, but National Guard Lt. Col. Deedra Thombleson says it will be early next year.

She says the soldiers and their families are being notified now so that they have time to prepare for the deployment.

In April, National Guard brigades that include 13,000 troops from Indiana, Ohio, Oklahoma and Arkansas were ordered to prepare for possible deployment to Iraq, making it the second tour for several thousand of them. The units would serve as replacement forces in the regular troop rotation for the war.