Isle Army Guard
gets callThe 29th Brigade, with 2,000 local
soldiers, could be on 18-month duty
and sent to Iraq
The Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade has been put on alert for duty, with more than 2,000 isle citizen soldiers expected to be sent to Iraq early next year.
The brigade's active duty could last for at least 18 months and will also include another 1,100 members from the West Coast and Pacific region.
Hawaii is last in the number of resident troops mobilized for combat duty at 13 percent. "This mobilization, should it happen, would have us at the middle of the pack at 40 percent," said Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, commander of the 6,000-member Army and Air National Guard, who announced the alert status yesterday at a press conference with Gov. Linda Lingle.
Troop divisions
More than 3,100 soldiers are in the 29th Infantry Brigade, which was alerted yesterday for possible combat duty.» More than 2,000 are members of Headquarters Company; 2nd Battalion located in Hilo; 29th Support Battalion; 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery; 227th Engineer Company; 229th Intelligence Company.
» About 650 belong to F Troop, 82nd Cavalry (Oregon); 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry (California).
» About 500 are members of 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry (Army Reserve), from Guam, Saipan, American Samoa and the neighbor islands.
U.S. Rep. Ed Case also acknowledged that Hawaii has had the lowest level of mobilization because the Pentagon wanted to use the 29th Brigade as a deterrent for any conflicts on the Korean peninsula or elsewhere in Asia.
"But there comes a time when ... we have to provide our fair share of the contributions," Case (D-Rural Oahu, Neighbor Islands) said after the call-up was announced.
"We can't leave our troops that are there right now, including many from Hawaii, there for more than a year and have them perform at fighting capability," Case said.
Lee said the Hawaii Army National Guard brigade also is made up of 650 soldiers stationed in Oregon and California. One of its units is the Army Reserve's 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, whose 500 soldiers are mostly from Guam, Saipan and America Samoa.
He expects the entire brigade of more than 3,100 soldiers to be mobilized as early as September and go on active duty by the end of the year.
The brigade and supporting units from Oregon, California, Guam, Saipan and American Samoa are already scheduled to begin 15 days of annual training July 17-31 at the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area.
Although the dates and location for the mobilization were not included in the alert order, Lee acknowledged that the biggest demand for troops is in Iraq.
More than 311,000 of nearly 1.1 million active Army, National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers are now serving in overseas assignments. In Iraq alone there are 141,000 soldiers with some 135,000 in Afghanistan.
The biggest unresolved issue is whether the 29th Brigade will spend the four months preparing for its assignment at Schofield Barracks or at a mainland Army base before being assigned to a combat zone for another 12 months. If sent to the mainland, the Hawaii soldiers could be away from the islands for at least 16 months.
This might happen because the 29th Brigade will not be able to train with soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division at Schofield since those soldiers are either in Iraq or Afghanistan, Lee said.
"We are pushing for the best method of training to prepare our soldiers," Lee said. "If it has to be on the mainland, it will be on the mainland."
More than a decade ago, the 29th Brigade was among the 15 Army National Guard units chosen to receive special training and equipment as an "enhanced brigade" capable of going into conflict within 90 days. Lee said that so far, 13 of these brigades have been deployed to Afghanistan or Iraq or are awaiting to be sent to those places.
U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient, said: "I wish the men and women scheduled to be deployed to the Middle East Godspeed, and I pray they will all return home safely. I am certain I speak for the multitude in Hawaii who are most grateful for their service to our nation."
Inouye, who fought with the highly decorated 100th Battalion in World War II, said the service of the Hawaii soldiers should not be considered a waste since the United States is committed to ending the problems in Iraq.
"We cannot have closure by walking away," Inouye said. "By leaving, we would be forever cursed. We will have to do our best to find some way to leave the Middle East with honor."
Since the Vietnam War in 1968, the brigade has not been placed on active duty. However, with an increasing demand being placed on the Reserves and the National Guard, state officials here acknowledged that it was only a matter of time.
Sgt. Maj. Kenneth Murota, 60, was with the 29th Infantry Brigade when it received its marching orders in 1968.
"I'll survive," he said yesterday.
"It's not as much as a shock as it was 36 years ago because we were told then that we would never be mobilized," said Murota, who is working as administrative support services officer with Headquarters, Hawaii Army National Guard.
In May 1968, 40 percent -- 1,500 members -- of the 29th Infantry Brigade was activated.
Army Reserve Sgt. 1st Class Beau Tatsumura, who has been a member of the 100th Battalion since 1999, said he was not completely surprised by the alert order since his infantry unit is one of the few that has not been activated.
"You never fully expect it, but anything can happen because of the way the world is today," he said.
Lingle said everything will be done to ensure that the deploying National Guard soldiers have the training and equipment that is "equal and equivalent to any active member serving in these combat zones."
Lingle was referring to reports that National Guard units that were among the first deployed to Iraq did not have all the bulletproof materials needed for their flak jackets or ample protection for their Humvees. That prompted spouses and parents to buy commercial flak jackets for their soldiers.
Star-Bulletin reporter Crystal Kua contributed to this report.
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City services ready for
possible loss of staffThe Honolulu Police Department might lose 40 officers to deployment of the Hawaii Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade to the Middle East.
"We do have contingency plans, but it would be premature to discuss them at this point," said Michelle Yu, HPD spokeswoman.
Out of the 1,800 HPD officers, 192 are reservists, and 40 are Hawaii Army National Guard members.
Yu said before any plans are set to cover the officers who would be deployed, the department needs to assess the effect of the activation.
"We need to know who's gone and where they're assigned to," she said.
The deployment would have a smaller impact on Hawaii's other emergency services.
The city Emergency Medical Services does not have any workers in the Army National Guard, but has two in the Navy and one in the Hawaii Air National Guard, according to Robin McCulloch, EMS chief.
The Honolulu Fire Department did not have an exact count of firefighters who are reservists, but has ways of covering shortages in employees, said fire Capt. Kenison Tejada.
Tejada said that if necessary, the department will move firefighters or use workers on overtime.
"It's not easy to do anything out of the ordinary," Tejada said, "but it's something that the Fire Department can deal with."
Laurie Au, Star-Bulletin
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National Guardsman Leslie Yamamoto, left, and his wife, Jo Ann, who volunteers with the Guard's family readiness program, talked last night about his probable deployment to Iraq. They were among attendees at the Hawaii Foodbank's 2004 Patriots Celebration honoring the Hawaii National Guard at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom.
Families gear for
deployment
Leslie Yamamoto heard over the radio that his National Guard unit was being activated.
It was 1968, and the then-19-year-old Yamamoto was headed to Vietnam.
Thirty-six years after his first active-duty tour, Yamamoto is preparing to join about 3,100 fellow soldiers from Hawaii National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade for a one-year stint, probably in Iraq.
"This is what I will do to defend my country," said Yamamoto, a Kaneohe resident. "I think the soldiers and the families are better prepared because of the family readiness programs. There was no such thing in 1968. Overall, you just do what you got to do."
Several members of the 29th Brigade attended last night's Hawaii Foodbank annual dinner for Hawaii's citizen soldiers at the Hilton Hawaiian Village. And many reservists -- along with their families -- were still trying to take in the possibility that they could be sent to the Middle East.
Brig. Gen. Joe Chavez, who heads the 29th, said he and his citizen soldiers have been preparing during the last year for a possible deployment.
Chavez, whose 27th wedding anniversary was yesterday, said he has been readying his family for some time that his unit could be put on active duty. But that does not make a possible deployment any easier, he said. "Like most spouses of significant others, nobody's ever gets thrilled about a year" overseas, he said.
"There is a fear and an apprehension," said Master Sgt. Christopher Tourtellot, a member of the 29th. "Walking into a battle zone, there is always that fear."
Though Tourtellot heard about his alert status Thursday, he has not told his parents or siblings yet because "I didn't want to ruin their Fourth of July weekend."
He also said his mother came to visit last month from Massachusetts, and before she left she told him, "Don't call me in a week telling me you're going somewhere."
"That's who I'm dreading calling," Tourtellot said.
Laura Wheeler, a family program coordinator for the Hawaii National Guard, said her volunteers have gotten several calls from those with family in the 29th Brigade about what to expect in the coming weeks and months.
Wheeler and her staff work to ready families for a deployment, making sure that children of those being deployed will be cared for and that other legal and medical paperwork is completed.
"You can prepare them (the families)," Wheeler said, "but the reality is that this is going to be a challenge. Nobody ever can be 100 percent prepared emotionally. ... Of course, there's going to be some anxiety and denial and confusion."
Yamamoto is one of a handful of reservists who went to Vietnam with the 29th Brigade and is now facing the potential of going to Iraq with the unit.
Yamamoto's wife, Jo Ann, was not around for his first deployment. But as a volunteer with the family readiness program, she said she is prepared if her husband is sent to Iraq.
"I'm fine," she said. "If he has to go, we'll face reality. When it hurts ... you try to cope the best you can."
