Hawai'i National Guard Iraq-bound in February
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
Nearly 2,000 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers are deploying to Iraq in February to replace the 81st Brigade based in Balad, a city north of Baghdad in the so-called "Sunni Triangle" where insurgency against U.S. forces has been greatest.
Andrew Shimabuku • The Honolulu Advertiser
Although the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade has been only alerted of a call-up, the need to conduct several months of full-time pre-deployment training means the soldiers could be mobilized as early as September for a year of duty in Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Rodney Bihag Jr., left, and Sgt. 1st Class Michael Yoshi-mura have learned that they are on alert to be deployed to Iraq.
Staff Sgt. Rodney Bihag Jr., 34, is ready to go.
"I'm kinda excited, actually," the Wahiawa man said yesterday. "I've been training for all these years — I've been in (the Army) for 14 years — I'm going to be doing what I trained for for years."
The prospect of serving in the Sunni Triangle, a region of continuing unrest north and west of Baghdad, doesn't worry him particularly.
"Stay alert, stay alive. That's all I can say. All the training that we received over the years — we're going to have to put that to good use," said Bihag, who's with the 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery. "We'll do our jobs and hopefully come back home. That's all I'm worried about, having my boys come back home."
The soldiers only recently found out they are going to Iraq, and not Afghanistan. The news is one more step toward a year of duty in a combat zone.
"You've got that butterflies in your stomach; you've got that anticipation. Other than that, it's like, yeah, OK," said Sgt. 1st Class Michael Yoshimura, 45, of Kapahulu, who works full time for the Guard.
Yoshimura said his thoughts are: "Do we have enough equipment? Do we have enough Interceptor (body armor) vests?"
In addition to the Hawai'i troops, about 650 soldiers from the Mainland and 500 from Guam, Saipan and American Samoa are part of the 29th alert.
The 29th units alerted are the brigade's Headquarters Company; 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry; 29th Support Battalion; 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery; 227th Engineer Company; 229th Military Intelligence Company; F Troop, 82nd Cavalry (Oregon); 1st Battalion, 184th Infantry (California); and 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry.
Defense Department officials said on Wednesday that the 29th Brigade is replacing the 1,400 soldiers of the 81st Brigade, a National Guard unit out of Washington state.
The Hawai'i brigade will be headquartered at Logistical Support Area Anaconda in Balad, an airfield about 50 miles north of Baghdad, but units could be farmed out from there.
As of May, the base had 17,000 troops. Smaller "forward operating bases" are spread out across the region.
About 200 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers with Company C, 193rd Aviation, deployed to Balad with Chinook helicopters in March.
According to GlobalSecurity.org, a Virginia-based think tank focusing on the military, most troops at Anaconda had been moved by June into trailers with air conditioning. Four cafeteria-style dining facilities are run on the post.
Two National Guard soldiers attached to the 81st Brigade were killed June 22 in an ambush near the base, which comes under periodic mortar and rocket attack, and gunmen strafed a Turkish truck yesterday on the road between Samarra and Balad, The Associated Press reported.
Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general, said yesterday that he would rate the brigade as "well prepared," given one weekend of training a month and two weeks a year.
There has been a lot of concentration on platoon-level training, he added.
"I honestly believe, whether it's Afghanistan or Iraq, war is won at the platoon level, so I think that (emphasis) is appropriate," Lee said.
Additional training will be held to identify roadside bombs and to improve convoy safety, cultural awareness and weapons use. The mobilization station has not yet been identified.
Lee said a good share of the deploying soldiers are older, with about two dozen Vietnam veterans, bringing experience to the group. "They are like the dads looking after the young pups," Lee said.
Bihag, who works in security with Burns Security, said he has been to Thailand and Germany for exercises, but this is his first combat deployment.
"I always wanted to say I did something (in the Army)," he said, adding that he's not worried about the yearlong deployment. He's also single.
"It's just some of the guys who have mortgages or really good-paying jobs. They are having some problems," Bihag said.
Yoshimura said he looks at the deployment as an adventure — a dangerous one, he admits.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," he said. "I think when that plane door opens and I'm standing on Iraqi soil, it will hit me — that and the 105 temperature."
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
