-Messenger file photo
Sgt. Merlin Thilges, of Algona, portraying a “casualty” with a leg wound, is dragged to safety by fellow members of the Iowa Army National Guard Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery during a drill at the Homeland Security training area on Avenue O in Fort Dodge. The exercise was to help the troops prepare for a possible deployment to Afghanistan.