Topeka ? Amanda Bellew knew all along her husband’s Army Reserve unit would have to serve for 365 days after it was called up earlier this year.

What she didn’t know until recently was that the Army officially counts the one-year period as starting April 27, the day the 129th Transportation Company arrived in Kuwait, and not on Jan. 26, when the soldiers were called up to active duty.

Now, Bellew and several other wives of soldiers in the 129th are hoping to hasten their husbands’ return through an online petition drive that began Sept. 9.

They have set a goal of gathering 50,000 signatures by a self-imposed deadline of tonight, when they plan to forward the petition to Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback and Reps. Jim Ryun and Dennis Moore. The petition had 7,031 names by Tuesday afternoon.

Glenda Whitaker, wife of Sgt. John Whitaker of the 129th, said not crediting the soldiers with the three months between their call-up and their arrival in Kuwait was a disservice.

“It’s not fair to the families; it’s not fair to the soldiers,” she said.

The Whitakers have a daughter, Kailey, 10, and a son, Daniel, 8. “He’s gone, and he’s missing part of their lives that can’t be replaced,” Glenda Whitaker said.

Spc. Jason Bellew, 25, has been in the reserves for eight years, undergoing basic training between his junior and senior years of high school.

“He signed up because he wanted to serve his country,” Amanda Bellew said. The couple had planned to wed this fall, but instead were married March 1.

The Bellews are able to talk once or twice a week by phone, but being apart is “a constant hole in your life,” she said.

Members of the 129th Transportation Company and their spouses weren’t the only ones surprised when the Army recently clarified that National Guard and Reserve troops would serve in Iraq or Kuwait a full 12 months.

An Army spokesman in Wichita said last week the Army had said the exclusion of the predeployment period from the 12-month tours did not represent a change in policy. Current orders also carry the possibility that overseas tours will be extended a second year, said Rebecca Medicus, staff operations officer for the Army’s 89th Regional Readiness Command in Wichita.

Amanda Bellew doesn’t fear repercussions for her husband because of the petition drive and letters.

“All we’re trying to do is get our husbands home,” she said. “We’re going to bust our butts till our guys come home.”