Family members of a Minnesota National Guard company say the extended tours of duty that their soldiers are being forced to endure is too much.

About 200 relatives met Sunday with state Guard leaders at Camp Ripley near Little Falls. Chief on their minds: When will their loved ones come home?

“Our questions remain unanswered,” said Constance Potter, whose father and brother serve in the 142nd Engineer Combat Battalion stationed north of Baghdad. “But at least we feel that (Guard leaders) have made a commitment to us to seek answers and bring information back to us. That’s at least a step in the right direction.”

It’s been nearly two weeks since the Army told National Guard and Reserve troops in Iraq that they will be there a full 12 months — surprising some who had believed the clock started ticking on one-year tours once they reached mobilization stations in the United States.

That means their tours begin with “boots on the ground” in Iraq, said Lt. Col. Denny Shields, a spokesman for the Minnesota National Guard. That discounts time troops spent getting ready before they left and to demobilize after their tours. The result is that many reservists probably find themselves on active duty and away from their civilian jobs for well over a year.

For the 142nd, which prepared since January for their mid-April entry into Iraq, that could mean they won’t return until next summer when many hoped to return shortly after Christmas.

Families in Kansas have collected more than 9,000 signatures on a “Bring Them Home” Web site, www.129bringthemhome.com. It was created by wives of soldiers in an Army Reserve transportation company, which was activated in January but didn’t reach Iraq until May. Now the company expects to remain there until next May.