GREGG K. KAKESAKO / GKAKESAKO@STARBULLETIN.COM
Eight Army reservists, all Oahu residents, with the 804th Signal Company will leave Saturday to join a California unit destined for combat duty for the next year, probably in Iraq. Spc. Gilbert Trevino, left, Spc. William Jacobo and 1st Lt. Charles Hensley are among those being deployed.
8 Oahu reservists
called to combatThe Army soldiers are likely
headed for Iraq and will be
deployed for at least a year
Eight Army reservists with the 804th Signal Company will leave Hawaii on Saturday for combat duty, likely in Iraq.
The reservists, all Oahu residents, have not been told where they will be going, but know they will be deployed for a year to 18 months.
Another reservist, Col. Craig Ono, will leave Dec. 14 to spend three months in Baghdad as a member of the 945th Forward Surgical Team.
Army Reserve Spc. William Jacobo, who will leave Saturday, hasn't yet told his wife.
"The last time I talked to her by phone (in the Philippines), her mother was there and I didn't want to say anything to upset her," said Jacobo, a radio operator.
The reservists are the latest in Hawaii to get mobilization orders.
Some 200 members of the 193rd Aviation from Wheeler Army Air Field have received orders to report to Schofield Barracks in preparation for their year in Iraq.
Sixty-two members of the 193rd Aviation are already in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Also training in Wahiawa for duty in Iraq at the same time will be 540 Army reservists from the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy). Of that number, 390 are from the islands.
The eight members of the 804th will be reassigned to Company A, 319th Signal Battalion of Sacramento, Calif.
First Lt. Charles Hensley, acting commander of the 804th, said Hawaii's reservists are probably needed to bring the California unit to its full strength of 156 soldiers before they can be sent to Iraq.
Spc. Gilbert Trevino said he wasn't "too shocked" by the call-up.
"I've been anticipating it," said Trevino, 21, a biology student at Kapiolani Community College. "Since 9/11 ... I have spent the past two years preparing myself.
"It's my mom who's taking it really rough. But my mom is going to worry no matter what. She even worries when I go outside," Trevino said.
Ono, an orthopedic surgeon at Shriners Hospital for Children, will join four other medical specialists and spend two to three weeks at Fort Bliss in Texas preparing for their three-month deployment.
"The unit is designed to provide immediate life-saving surgical care," Ono said.
During the 15 years Ono was on active duty, he deployed to Saudi Arabia during the 1991 Gulf War. Nine years later, he commanded the 250th Forward Surgical Team when it was sent to Kosovo for six months.
Married for 22 years and with three daughters, 45-year-old Ono said deployments are never easy.
"It's never a good time to leave, especially now since I have to leave before Christmas," he said.
Ono said he wasn't completely surprised, since as chief of professional services with the Pacific Reserve's Army Hospital at Tripler he has been trying to get reservists to volunteer to fill many vacant medical positions.
Two members of his Tripler unit already have been sent to Southwest Asia.
Jacobo, who joined the Army Reserve three years ago to help pay for college, said he knew the risk.
"I knew what I was getting into," he said. "I am going. There is no backing out now."
Before Saturday, Jacobo said he will tackle his biggest problem -- making the phone call to tell his wife.
