My brother may in fact, after another reversal, be coming home soon after all! We got the word yesterday from his wife; stmachiavelli forwards me this story from the Deseret News with more info:

Utah's 1457th coming home Telephone calls giving the welcome news began arriving from the Middle East shortly after midnight early Wednesday: The Utah National Guard's 1457th Engineer Battalion is returning home from Iraq after all....

Once the extensions became public, some family members of the Guard unit organized a group called Rights for American Citizen Soldiers aimed at finding answers about the deployment extension.

"I'm thrilled," said Alyssa Wright, whose husband, 1457th's Spec. Jared Wright, called home about 12:45 a.m. Wednesday. "I don't know if us getting the word out did anything, but it couldn't have hurt. I'm just relieved."  [full story]