A Virginia National Guard soldier wounded in an accidental blast at Fort Pickett is in stable condition at VCU Medical Center and is expected to make a full recovery, a spokesman said today. Thirteen other soldiers taken to Southside Regional Medical Center in Petersburg last night were treated and released and have returned to duty, said Maj. Cotton Puryear.

Hundreds of soldiers, airmen, sailors and Marines from Virginia are serving in Afghanistan, and many more have been boots on the ground there. Continued U.S. involvement in Afghanistan will have a disproportionate effect on the state because of the large Defense Department presence here: More than 120,000 active-duty and reserve members of the armed forces are assigned to units in Virginia or ships based in Hampton Roads.

About 150 Virginia National Guard members are being mobilized to train Iraqi police forces.

The Virginia National Guard’s 1710th Transportation Company, 329th Regional Support Group is back in the United States. About 180 members of the Richmond-based group returned yesterday after serving in Kuwait and Iraq since last May, the National Guard said. The soldiers are at Camp Atterbury in Indiana to transition back before returning to Richmond.

The 13 security checkpoints on the presidential inauguration’s parade route in Washington were guarded by soldiers from the Virginia Army National Guard. “We have the checkpoint mission,“ said the state Guard’s Maj. Cotton Puryear on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday.

The Virginia Army National Guard will break ground tomorrow for a what could eventually be a $55 million training-center complex here. The project’s $25 million first phase includes construction of headquarters and education buildings for the 183rd Regional Training Institute, the state Guard’s primary training unit, at the post near Blackstone, the Guard said.

A Virginia Army National Guard unit from Southwest Virginia has won one of the Army’s top food-service awards. The 1032nd Transportation Company, based in Gate City, has received the Army’s annual Philip A. Connelly Award for Excellence in Army Food Service in the National Guard Field Kitchen Category. “This is the second consecutive year that the 1032nd has participated and was selected as both the state and regional Connelly champion,“ said Lt. Col. Doug Messner, commander of the 1030th Transportation Battalion, the 1032nd’s higher headquarters.