Isle Guard
on Iraq alert390 Army reservists could
be deployed as early as March
for a rebuilding mission
The Pentagon has put 390 Army reservists from Hawaii on alert that they might be sent to Iraq next year.
CORRECTION
Saturday, Nov. 22, 2003>> A total of 390 Hawaii-based Army reservists have been put on alert for possible duty in Iraq. A Page A1 headline in yesterday's early edition incorrectly said that (National) Guard units had been put on alert.
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin strives to make its news report fair and accurate. If you have a question or comment about news coverage, call Editor Frank Bridgewater at 529-4791 or email him at fbridgewater@starbulletin.com.The deployment of the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) at Shafter Flats would be the first call-up of an island Army Reserve or Hawaii Army National Guard unit since the Vietnam War. In 1968 the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade was activated and included the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion/ 442nd Infantry.
The 390 reservists -- 260 from Oahu and 130 from Maui or the Big Island -- could leave as early as March, possibly to work on rebuilding Iraq's roads, schools and other facilities.
They face the possibility of spending at least 18 months on active duty once they are mobilized. They would spend three months preparing for a year-long mission in Iraq and then spend another three months at Schofield Barracks after the deployment is over.
The soldiers are part of 15,000 additional Reserve and National Guard troops alerted this week by the Pentagon.
The Pentagon estimates that by spring reservists may reach 39,000, about 37 percent of the total force in Iraq, compared with about 28,000 troops, or 22 percent, now.
The spring rotation also includes troops from three National Guard combat brigades like Hawaii's 29th Infantry Brigade. Yesterday, Maj. Chuck Anthony, Hawaii National Guard spokesman, said neither the brigade nor another National Guard unit has been alerted yet.
Hawaii has sent relatively few reservists to the Iraq or Afghanistan wars, compared with other states.
Sixty-two Hawaii Army National Guard helicopter mechanics are in Afghanistan. Earlier this year, 40 Marine reservists from the 4th Force Reconnaissance Company spent nearly seven months in Iraq and Kuwait. Fewer than 75 Hawaii Air National Guard personnel were deployed for the war effort.
Lt. Col. Jonathan Wung, who assumed command of the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion about 10 weeks ago, acknowledged that the Iraqi deployment will cause economic hardships since many of his unit members are skilled workers, such as carpenters, plumbers, masons and electricians, who are in demand because of the isles' construction boom.
"Just this weekend, I spoke with several small independent contractors on the neighbor islands who owned their own firms," said Wung. "Their leaving is definitely going to have an impact. It's not like they work for someone. They are the employers."
Wung, 40, also has units in Alaska, American Samoa and Guam who would also be deployed to Iraq if called up.
Wung said even the departure of 130 of his soldiers assigned to Charlie Company on Guam will cause problems, pointing out that 15 of his soldiers work for the island's school system.
Capt. Michael Mora, who commanded Charlie Company for two years, said a deployment was just a matter of time: "Every unit in the United States has been called up."
Mora, 34, who has a 9-year-old daughter and a 6-year-old son, said, "I've been talking to (the 9-year-old) to prepare her.
"It's never a done deal. It's the same with the 6-year-old. You have to keep (preparing) them," said Mora, who has never been away on active duty longer than a few weeks since he joined the Reserve in 1991.
Wung has visited his units in Fairbanks and Anchorage in Alaska, the neighbor islands and Guam since assuming command on Sept. 14. He said he told his soldiers that "we are at war, and the motto of our battalion always has been 'Ready and Able.' The Army Reserve makes up such a large percentage of the Army today, so the question now is a matter of when, not if, we will be activated."
But for 22-year-old Sgt. Leah Mariano, who has never left home except to attend basic training after graduating from Farrington High School in 2000, war and Iraq are frightening.
"It's scary. I watch the news. I listen to the calls we get from a colonel who is there. He says the conditions are really hazardous ... and I keep telling my mother we aren't going."
