350 Island reservists could deploy to Iraq

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

About 350 Hawai'i-based Army reservists with the 411th Engineer Battalion were alerted yesterday to a possible mobilization and deployment to Iraq next year — the latest but likely not the last troops from Hawai'i to be tapped for Middle East duty.

It would be the first combat deployment since World War II for the 540-soldier battalion, which also has companies in Alaska and Guam.

"We're at the first threshold here," said Lt. Col. Howard Sugai, a spokesman for the Army Reserves 9th Regional Support Command at Fort Shafter Flats.

The mobilization, if ordered, would be for 18 months, and would provide three months of training and 12 months of possible duty in Iraq.

"We've all watched the news and we all know that more reserve forces are being called up every day," said John Crowson, 56, a chief warrant officer 4 with the battalion. "We knew because we're combat engineers and with the limited number of engineer forces that are in the force structure, that our number was coming up sooner or later."

Crowson, an active-duty reservist and maintenance technician for the battalion, said it was no big surprise to receive the alert.

"It's something that most reservists are geared to and expect to happen sometime in the near future with the current events," he said.

As of Wednesday, 164,732 National Guard and Reserve personnel were on active duty — 10,549 more than the week before.

Sugai said almost all the 411th battalion soldiers have jobs outside the Army. "Obviously, because they are an engineering unit, a lot of them are in the construction trade. We have a lot of carpenters, plumbers, electricians. We have people that can build bridges," he said.

Sugai said the soldiers possibly could report to Schofield Barracks in January for three months of equipment and weapons training.

The deployment would mean a year on the ground in Iraq — identical to the tours 25th Infantry Division (Light) soldiers will face in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Schofield Barracks is sending 4,500 soldiers to Iraq in February, and 3,500 soldiers to Afghanistan in April as the Defense Department continues to rotate troops through both countries.

Sixty-two Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers with B Company, 193rd Aviation deployed with five-ton trucks and other equipment in August to Afghanistan

Bill Ricafort, 38, a sergeant first class with the 411th Engineer Battalion when he's in uniform, said a year of duty instead of six-month deployments in years past is the new norm.

"With all the changes, and the cuts in the forces, we're kind of tapped out," he said. "I wish there was a way around it (year-long deployments), but if that's what the Army wants, that's what we'll do."

Ricafort, staff training assistant and security manager for the battalion Monday through Friday, has three boys and his wife is due to give birth Jan. 8 — possibly right before the battalion is mobilized.

"You could see it in the concern, in the soldiers' faces," the Kane'ohe man said. "Just the time frame, of course, and making sure their families are safe while they are away from home."

Crowson, who has been with the engineer battalion for the past 17 months but has been a reservist since 1976 and was in Vietnam, said battalion heavy equipment such as bulldozers, front-end loaders, backhoes and dump trucks would make the trip to Iraq.

The battalion has companies in Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska, two companies on O'ahu, detachments in Hilo and Kahului and a company in Guam.

Both Afghanistan and Iraq have dangers, but Crowson said the presence of engineers builds relationships.

"Every time I've deployed with engineers, we've always gone in and built schools and roads and pretty soon, we look around and we're making friends, (the people) see we're helping them," he said.

The battalion sent soldiers to Guam for typhoon relief in 1997, but not since World War II has it deployed for combat duty. Sugai said about 60 to 75 Hawai'i Army reservists were mobilized after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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