Holidays extra busy for reservists set to leave families, jobs

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

Gilbert Trevino, studying biology at Kapi'olani Community College, can't take his finals and has to apply to withdraw from classes.

Dr. Craig Ono will be far from his wife and three daughters on Christmas.

William Jacobo will leave his job as an airport screener for up to 18 months.

Gilbert Trevino can't take his finals and has to apply to withdraw from his Kapi'olani Community College classes.

And Dr. Craig Ono, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Shriners Hospital, will be far from his wife and three daughters on Christmas.

For a growing list of Hawai'i Army reservists and National Guard, daily routines are abruptly being replaced by a wartime call to duty and a flurry of preparation for it.

Eight reservists from the 804th Signal Company — Jacobo and Trevino among them — are heading to California on Saturday as backfill for another unit, but could wind up in Iraq.

Ono, meanwhile, was called up for duty with the 945th Forward Surgical Team, 70 miles west of Baghdad in the so-called Sunni Triangle, and also leaves this weekend.

The soldiers are deploying ahead of about 390 Army reservists and 200 Army National Guard expected to report to Schofield Barracks in early January for up to three months of intensive training and probable Iraq duty.

Jacobo, 31, signed onto the reserves three years ago for tuition assistance, but knew it could come with the price he is now paying.

"I knew what I was getting into," the Army specialist said. "There's no backing out now. I signed on the dotted line."

Asked how he feels about a year and a half of active duty, Jacobo let out a deep breath and said, "I'm ready for it now. It's sunk in. I don't know about my family. My brother is trying to handle it — he's helping me out a little here and there."

Of the eight reservists heading out Saturday to join the 319th Signal Battalion in Sacramento, most are between the ages of 18 and 22.

The seven men and one woman include a security guard, nursing assistant and several college students.

The call-ups, part of a Pentagon plan to rotate troops in Iraq next year and reduce overall U.S. numbers from 130,000 to about 105,000, have placed a heavy burden on reserve forces.

"We will have on the move 60,000 reservists going to the theater, and about the same number returning," said Acting Secretary of the Army Les Brownlee on a visit to Hawai'i last week.

"I think the reserves need to be looked at differently now," said Trevino, 21, a Saint Louis High graduate. "For those who are joining, it's a new world now. It's no longer one weekend a month and two weeks a year. ... It's pretty much like an active component of the Army these days."

A relatively small percentage of Hawai'i's reserve forces have been alerted for call-up so far. There are about 3,000 Army Guard and 2,500 Air Guard members in Hawai'i, and about 2,500 Army reservists.

Lt. Col. Howard Sugai, spokesman for the 9th Regional Support Command at Fort Shafter Flats, said a tremendous effort goes into preparing citizen soldiers for active duty.

"Right now, it just seems like everything is happening about all at once," Sugai said. "If the soldiers have to go, we'd like as much advance notice as possible to prepare them. We're shoving them out the door because of the timelines that have to be met."

Powers of attorney, wills, inoculations, physicals and service record updates have to be taken care of. Desert camouflage and body armor has to be issued. A chaplain speaks to families about coping with a year or more of separation.

There's advice on how to keep family ties: frequently show children a picture of a deployed parent. "We had one soldier go so far as to say he wrote a note to his children for every day he is gone — imagine that," Sugai said.

Ono, the son of former Army deputy chief of staff for personnel retired Lt. Gen. Allen Ono, said doctors get a break on the time they have to stay in Iraq because of the potential effect on their practice. For him, it will be three months of duty in the country.

Ono, part of the 1984th U.S. Army Hospital, was on active duty in the Army for 15 years before becoming a reservist three years ago.

"My wife's been through (a deployment) a couple of times, but it's never easy, and (Christmas) is never a good time to leave," the Army colonel said.

In Iraq, he'll be part of a trauma center in Ar Ramadi, in the area that has seen the most attacks on U.S. troops.

Ono said he worries about "improvised explosive devices," such as roadside bombs.

"That's hard, because you can't necessarily defend against all of that. I guess that's the primary worry, because you don't know what to expect," he said. "I think once we get there we'll be OK, and I hope we're not very busy, because if we're busy, that means people are being hurt."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.