More Hawaii troops
might be Iraq-boundUp to 500 Marines and
2,500 National Guard soldiers
are likely to be called on
Up to 500 Kaneohe Marines and an additional 2,500 Hawaii Army National Guard citizen soldiers can expect to be called on to fight in Iraq as the United States continues to send fresh troops, military officials said yesterday.
Brig. Gen. Jerry McAbee, who commands the 6,500 Marines here, said he anticipates that anywhere from 350 to 500 Kaneohe infantrymen will be sent to Iraq over the next few months as part of the force that will relieve soldiers who have been there for at least a year.
An announcement will be made soon on the type of units that have been designated to serve as part of the largest military movement in decades, he said. Some 110,000 soldiers and Marines will be rotated into Iraq over the next four months to replace 130,000 U.S. troops.
Included in that group will be 4,800 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division, who will begin leaving Schofield Barracks next week.
Also yesterday, Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, head of the Hawaii National Guard, publicly acknowledged that he "fully expects" that his soldiers in the 29th Infantry Brigade, the Hawaii Army National Guard's premier combat unit, will be sent to Iraq in 2005 after the 25th Division returns from Iraq and Afghanistan.
He said that the 29th Brigade is one of 15 specially equipped and trained Army National Guard units.
"Forty percent of those units have already been mobilized and sent to Iraq," Lee said.
Three of these Army National Guard "enhanced brigades" -- from Washington, North Carolina and Arkansas -- have been mobilized. The North Carolina soldiers will work with the 25th Division in northern Iraq, while the Arkansas unit will be in Baghdad and part of the force to which Hawaii Army Reserve's 411th Engineer Combat Battalion will be assigned.
There has been speculation on the activation of the 29th Brigade since late last summer when the military began plans to rotate fresh troops into Iraq and Afghanistan. It would be the second time it has been mobilized since the Vietnam War in 1968.
Both McAbee and Lee spoke yesterday at the Chamber Commerce of Hawaii's annual briefing by the island's top generals and admirals on Hawaii's military situation.
Before his talk, McAbee told the Star-Bulletin that last year there were nearly 3,000 Kaneohe Marines deployed to Iraq, Okinawa and other areas in Southwest Asia. Of those numbers, almost 1,000 fought in Iraq while a dozen pulled combat duty in Afghanistan.
He said that at any given time during the year, there are at least 2,000 Kaneohe Marines away from home. McAbee said that figure should climb to 2,300 to 2,500 Marines this year.
McAbee explained that of the three battalions assigned to the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force at Kaneohe Bay, one is permanently stationed on Okinawa.
However, every seven months, at least 1,200 Kaneohe Marines, including an artillery battalion and helicopter squadron, are involved in the service's unit deployment program and can expect to be away in training, generally on Okinawa.
Last year, because of the Iraq war, an additional 1,000 Kaneohe Marines were sent to Okinawa, since three of the battalions that normally train on the Japanese island were sent to Iraq, McAbee said.
This afternoon, 4,800 soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division's 2nd Brigade Combat Team, engineers, aviators and other support personnel will gather at Schofield Barracks' Sills Field as they prepare to leave next week for a year in Iraq.
The last time the 25th Division had such a farewell was in 1965. Then, in one of the largest military airlifts up to that point, 15,000 Tropic Lightning soldiers and their equipment were flown to Vietnam during Operation Blue Light and remained in Vietnam until November 1970.
In Iraq the Schofield soldiers will join the 4th Infantry Division and replace a battalion from the 173rd Airborne Brigade. Eventually, the 4th Infantry Division will be replaced by the 1st Infantry Division from Germany. The 4,800 soldiers from Schofield will be operating around the northern cities of Kirkuk and Tikrit. It was the 4th Division that captured Saddam Hussein last month.
On hand to address the Tropic Lightning soldiers this afternoon will be their commanding general, Maj. Gen. Eric Olson, and Gov. Linda Lingle. In early spring an additional 5,700 Tropic Lightning soldiers, including Olson and his headquarters staff, will leave Wahiawa for a year to relieve the 10th Mountain Division in Afghanistan.
At yesterday's Chamber of Commerce briefing, Maj. Gen. Ronald Lowe, Pacific Command's chief of staff, told the audience that no island military installation has been selected or considered for extinction under the latest Base Realignment and Closure process.
He does not expect any kind of hit list until May 10, 2005.