Wheeler helicopter
crews prepare for
orders to Iraq
Some Hawaii citizen soldiers who operate Chinook helicopters on weekend exercises may be flying them full-time in Iraq next year.
The Hawaii Army National Guard announced yesterday that 200 members of the 193rd Aviation Charlie Company were put on alert last week.
The company, based at Wheeler Army Air Field, includes flight crews, fuel loaders and administrative personnel, said Guard spokesman Maj. Chuck Anthony. The commander is Capt. Joseph Laurel. The unit's 14 CH-47 Chinook helicopters, used to transport troops and supplies, would also be deployed.
Anthony said the alert is not specific to a particular country but refers to deployment in the Central Command, which covers the Middle East and southwest Asia including the Arabian peninsula.
"They have not actually been activated, but they can anticipate being activated," Anthony said. Anthony said the vast majority of 193rd Aviation members are part-time soldiers.
"They're citizen soldiers that live and work in the community," he said. "Just a handful are full-time guardsmen."
Word of the likely deployment was the latest involving thousands of Hawaii troops bound for Iraq and Afghanistan next year.
>> Last week, about 390 Hawaii-based members of the Pacific Army Reserve 411th Engineer Battalion were told they could go to Iraq as soon as January.>> Some 62 members of 193rd Aviation's Bravo Company, a helicopter maintenance unit, have been with the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan since July.
>> The Pentagon previously announced plans to send 4,500 members of the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade at Schofield Barracks for a one-year tour in Iraq starting in February, and 3,500 soldiers in the 25th Division's 3rd Brigade will be sent to Afghanistan in April.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
