The Marines and sailors from the 1st Radio Battalion — which provides communications support for Marine Corps intelligence organizations and conducts electronic warfare — will deploy to the U.S. Central Command area of operations "in the near future," officials said yesterday.

Meanwhile, the Pearl Harbor-based guided missile destroyer USS O'Kane, with more than 350 officers and sailors, left today for an undisclosed destination as the song "Taking Care of Business" was played.

"I can’t really say where we are headed — I wish that I could," said Lt. Cmdr. Rich Riggs, the O'Kane’s operations officer. "But I think it's obvious watching the news. People can figure it out."

Sailors wearing lei and making last-minute cell phone calls to family members on the pier said goodbye as the O'Kane pulled out.

Eight-month-old Nathan Fajardo woke up just long enough to see off his dad, Christopher, before going back to sleep in mom Patricia's arms.

"I'm scared for him, but I'm also happy for him because I know he's leading a good path for our children and children's children," said Patricia Fajardo, who's also in the Navy.

This deployment is different because "we had the baby, and he’s going to miss a lot of firsts — he’s going to miss his first steps and his first birthday," she said.

But several sailors and family members said this deployment also is different because of the uncertainty that lies ahead.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld earlier this week ordered about 60,000 more U.S. troops to the Persian Gulf region, which will create a force of about 130,000 around Iraq with troops already in place.

"It's kind of scary because we have been hearing lots of news about Iraq," said Beulah Senoren, who with son Michael, 3, was seeing off her husband, Hernan, an engineer on the O'Kane.

Leina Swearingen, 25, was on the O'Kane for its last deployment. The ship returned about a year ago after joining the USS Carl Vinson carrier battle group in the Arabian Sea following Sept. 11. Her boyfriend, Petty Officer 3rd class Jonathan Krogman, worked in damage control on the 504-foot ship. Today, digital camera in hand, she saw him off for the guided missile destroyer's latest mission.

"I think most of the guys — their main concern is their families back home, making sure they are safe, and making sure they are qualified on the ship to do their job in case of an emergency," Swearingen said.

Chuck Little, a spokesman for Marine Forces Pacific at Camp Smith, said the radio battalion deployment is the second sizeable deployment of Hawai'i-based Marines to the Middle East.

Last February, Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, commander of Marine Forces Pacific and Marine Forces Central Command, set up headquarters in Bahrain. About 200 Marines from Camp Smith also made the move.

"We're not going to speculate on whether they (other Marines) will or won't go," Little said of the latest deployment. "But should they get orders, they are ready and motivated to go."

Little said an order came from the Pentagon that the skills of the radio battalion are needed.

"Their job is providing communications support for intelligence organizations and electronics warfare operations," Little said. "That's not something that every unit does, obviously."

Military officials have said a war to remove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein could involve 250,000 troops on the ground, at sea and in the air.

Michael Pavkovic, director of the diplomacy and military studies program at Hawai'i Pacific University, said that if the U.S. and coalition force reaches that size, "it would not surprise me to see more Marines (from Hawai'i) being sent ... and probably some troops from Schofield (Barracks), even if they are not intended to go directly to the Gulf, but to replace other troops."

During Operation Desert Storm, about 7,600 Kane'ohe Marines and 500 Schofield soldiers and reservists were deployed. Hawai'i-based Marines in Task Force Taro were the first to cross the Iraqi-mined Kuwait border.

About 6,800 Marines and sailors are now assigned to Marine commands at Kane'ohe Bay.

As U.S. Marine and naval forces move to the Persian Gulf region, a number of Pearl Harbor-based ships are part of carrier battle groups and have other Navy assignments that could mean eventual involvement in a war with Iraq.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, which left Everett, Wash., in July, has Pearl Harbor-based destroyers USS Fletcher and USS Paul Hamilton and the frigate USS Reuben James as part of its battle group.

The Lincoln, recently in Fremantle, Australia, was to return to home port this month, but the Navy has kept the battle group on duty.

The carrier USS Constellation, on station in the Arabian Gulf, deployed with the attack submarine USS Columbia out of Pearl Harbor.

The USS Nimitz carrier battle group, meanwhile, was expected to have the cruiser USS Chosin and submarine USS Pasadena, both based here, for a three-week compressed training exercise that began last Friday and expedites the battle group's availability for deployment, the Navy said.

As many as 75,000 Marines may be deployed for war. About 4,000 Marines and sailors sailed from San Diego Jan. 6.

The 504-foot Arleigh Burke-class destroyer O'Kane, with a 90-cell vertical launch system capable of firing Tomahawk, Harpoon anti-ship and anti-submarine missiles, returned home from a previous deployment in January of last year.