Members of the Maryland National Guard are waiting to see if or how they might be affected by President Bush’s call for more troops in Iraq.

About 638 out of 7,000 Maryland National Guard troops are already deployed overseas, though most are currently in Cuba and the Balkans, according to National Guard spokesman Lt. Wayde Minami. The Guard has not heard if more troops will be deployed or if its current deployments will be extended as part of Bush’s call for 21,500 more troops in Iraq.

“It’s up to the Army,” Minami said. “We may not hear anything because they might not task Maryland, ... or we could get a [deployment] warning order tomorrow.”

More than 100 Maryland Guardsmen are currently supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and Kuwait, but it’s unclear if their tours will be extended beyond their expected rotation home later this year — though part of the military’s strategy for increasing troop levels includes extending some groups’ stay, Minami said.

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Though officials are not permitted to comment on when units are scheduled to be deployed, Minami said Maryland’s troops had not gotten any notice that they would be mobilized sooner or in larger numbers than the standard rotation.

“As we get into the next week or so here, we’ll start to get a clearer picture of what will happen,” said Richard Roth, a civilian spokesman for the Guard.

Even if more of the Guard is called up, at least 85 percent of the available troops will remain in Maryland ready to respond to any emergencies, said Quentin Banks, public affairs director for the Maryland Military Department.

Deployment peaked last February at about 13.35 percent of all available forces.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com