390 reservists here get orders to report for duty in January
By William Cole and Mike Gordon
Advertiser Staff Writers
About 390 Hawai'i Army reservists with the 411th Engineer Battalion recently received word they would likely be mobilized for duty in Iraq.
Now they have a report date — early January — replacing that alert and putting them one step closer to the war zone.
The mobilization orders, announced yesterday, mean the mostly citizen- soldiers have about a month with their day jobs and Christmas in Hawai'i before they have to report to Schofield Barracks for three months of intensive training.
Full-time reservist Sgt. Phil So, a 40-year-old father of two from Makiki, said he's ready to deploy, but his family still has to come to terms with the news.
"I haven't talked to my boys yet," So said yesterday. "My wife is taking this news really seriously. Since we are Christians, we just pray to God. We believe God will lead us well."
The reservists were alerted on Nov. 20 by the Pentagon that they likely would be part of a huge troop rotation to Iraq next year.
The actual news of the call-up brought with it a finality and a bit more apprehension. Most of the reservists were told last weekend, said Lt. Col. Howard Sugai, spokesman for the 9th Regional Support Command at Fort Shafter Flats.
"Right now, just sitting down in the headquarters here, it's very tense," Sugai said. "You never expect it (the mobilization), as much as you know it's coming."
The 411th Engineer Battalion has 540 soldiers assigned in Hawai'i, Alaska and Guam. All will be reporting to Schofield for three months of training, followed by 12 months in Iraq, and three months back at Schofield.
Battalion heavy equipment including bulldozers, front-end loaders, backhoes and dump trucks will be transported for reconstruction projects.
About 200 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers are expected to report to Schofield about the same time for a similar activation and likely deployment: 18 months of active duty including a year in Iraq.
Flight crews, administrative personnel and fuel loaders with Company C, 193rd Aviation, are expected to make the trip to the Middle East with all 14 of the Guard's twin-rotor CH-47 Chinook helicopters. Another 62 Guard personnel from Company B are in Afghanistan.
Sugai said the 411th's soldiers, many of them carpenters, plumbers, electricians and heavy-equipment operators, don't know yet where they may be going in Iraq.
The Pacific Army Reserve soldiers will undergo intensive training at Schofield in weapons proficiency, weapons and equipment maintenance, communications, building and improving defensive fortifications, convoy and security operations, and training on Iraqi culture and religious traditions.
At Schofield, 8,000 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan are receiving Individual Readiness Training with an emphasis on skills such as land mine and explosives awareness, and vehicle, house-to-house and individual search techniques.
About 4,500 soldiers are deploying to Iraq in February, followed by 3,500 soldiers to Afghanistan in April.
"Operational tempo in the Tropic Lightning Division and U.S. Army, Hawai'i, is high but is consistent with preparations for a major deployment," said Col. David Anderson, commander of U.S. Army Garrison, Hawai'i.
Anderson said the 25th Division is "fully prepared and ready to mobilize the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) and any other reserve units or individuals activated in support of our nation's global war on terrorism."
Other Hawai'i-based forces also may be called to duty in Iraq. The Pentagon announced that three battalions of Marines may be deployed for the second rotation of Operation Iraqi Freedom in addition to 20,000 Marines from Camp Pendleton, Calif. The additional Marine battalions have not been named.
Sugai said the engineer battalion is on available training status to "max out all of the drills through December to maximize the earning benefits for families before they go on active duty."
There have been infrequent instances of units reporting for mobilization and not getting deployment orders, but Sugai said: "We've been told they are going to Iraq, I can declare that."
It will be the first combat deployment for the battalion since World War II and the biggest mobilization of Hawai'i reservists since the Vietnam War when members of the 100th Battalion were activated and some were sent to Southeast Asia.
Nobody wants to be sent to a dangerous area, So said, but when the order comes, he has to go.
"As a soldier, we know that somebody has to go," he said. "This is our turn."
Reach William Cole at 525-5459 or wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.
