Hawai'i Marine reservists get call to deploy

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

About 40 Marines reservists from Hawai'i will be deployed to the Middle East soon as the nation continues to prepare for war against Iraq.

The reservists are from the 4th Force Reconnaissance Co. and were activated Jan. 14. They join more than 4,500 Marines nationwide who were called to active duty in the past week, and 3,600 others who had been activated earlier.

No date has been set for the Hawai'i reservists to be deployed, but it will be "pretty shortly," said Marines spokesman Staff Sgt. Robert Carlson of Marine Corps Base Hawai'i. He said the Marines will be deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of operations, which covers Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia.

Carlson said these are the first Marines reservists from Hawai'i who have been ordered to deploy.

"These are the guys that serve up your money to you at the bank and firemen and policemen," Carlson said. "We appreciate the employers that are supporting this. It's not easy to lose people that fast. They didn't get a whole lot of notice."

Carlson said the reservists' mission will be to plan, coordinate and conduct amphibious reconnaissance, deep-ground reconnaissance and surveillance, and limited scale raids. The 4th Force Reconnaissance Marines will augment the Marine Expeditionary Force from Camp Pendleton, Calif., he said.

Carlson said the Marines have yet to be told where they will be based. They have been activated for a year, but he said that could be extended.

The reservists join about 250 Kane'ohe Bay Marines who received deployment orders to the Middle East two weeks ago. The Marines from the 1st Radio Battalion, which provides communications support for Marine Corps intelligence organizations, also will deploy to the U.S. Central Command area.

Their departure also is imminent, Carlson said.