One hundred twenty-five Hawaii Army National Guard aviators and mechanics and 12 CH-47 heavy-lift Chinook helicopters are returning to Iraq later this year - the second time as an unit.

Maj. Gen. Bob Lee, state adjutant general, made the announcement yesterday during the ninth annual Hawaii-U.S. military partnership conference, sponsored by the Chamber Commerce of Hawaii.

Lee also announced that 13 Hawaii Air Guard security personnel will deploy from Hickam Air Force Base for a six-month tour in Afghanistan. Hawaii National Guard officials said the team from the 154th Security Forces Squadron will be sent to Bagram Air Base. The Hawaii Air Guard unit only has 75 members but has consistently volunteered for overseas security missions since 2001.

Lee said the citizen soldiers are part of the 318 Hawaii Army and Air Guard members who will be on active duty this year in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Previously, officials announced that an additional 180 citizen soldiers assigned to the 230th Engineer Company will go on a nearly yearlong Afghanistan deployment in March. Capt. Anthony Tolentino, who leads the unit, began two months of pre-deployment training this week at Schofield Barracks.

Yesterday's announcement covered the Chinook unit - Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation - which received new helicopters after it returned from Iraq in 2005. It is led by Capt. Johnny Wandasan.

The Hawaii Army National Guard unit was then designated as Charlie Company, 193rd Aviation, when deployed to Logistical Support Area Anaconda near Balad in Iraq in March 2004.

A month later, a Hawaii Army National Guard Chinook piloted by Chief Warrant Officer Steve Froeschle crashed during a dense sandstorm during a resupply mission, but no one was killed.

In updating the Army's plans for the Pacific, Lt. Gen. Benjamin “;Randy”; Mixon, commander of U.S. Army Pacific, said he expects the funds to send units to train in Southern California will evaporate as the war in Iraq winds down.

In anticipation he has begun to evaluate the utilization of training areas on Oahu and the Big Island. Mixon said training ranges in Makua Valley and Schofield Barracks could be used for smaller operations, leaving the larger live-fire maneuvers for the Big Island's Pohakuloa Training Area.

“;We see as a growing threat IEDs (improvised explosive devices) becoming a weapon of choice,”; said Mixon. He said their use could become common in the Philippines and other Pacific regions.

For this reason Mixon wants to establish at Makua an “;counter-IED fusion center”; that would gather intelligence and develop a base and training plan to defeat roadside and homemade bombs and teach those skills to Pacific Basin armies.