He is part of a sizable group of skilled police officers, firefighters and other government employees around the state who expect to be deployed, a prospect that has administrators scrambling to cover for them and ensure public services are not interrupted.

Nearly 2,000 Hawai'i Army National Guard soldiers will deploy to Iraq in February to replace the 81st Brigade based in Balad, a city north of Baghdad.

Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state adjutant general, said he is collecting data on how many state and county government workers might be called to active duty. He said no Cabinet members or deputy directors are affected, and that he believes Kindred is the highest-ranking government official who will be deployed.

Public safety agencies are closely monitoring reports of employees who might be called into active duty.

Here's how different agencies are affected:

• Honolulu Police Department: The force of about 1,800 officers includes 192 who are either in the Guard or the Reserve, said HPD spokeswoman Michelle Yu. Yu said 40 are in the Army National Guard and that the department has contingency plans to prepare for any deployments.

"People should not expect to notice any change in police services," she said.

• Honolulu Fire Department: Spokesman Capt. Kenison Tejada said four firefighters are being deployed, with three of them going to Iraq. About 80 to 100 are either in the Guard or the Reserve, he said.

The Fire Department has about 1,080 uniformed personnel, he said.

• State Department of Public Safety: Amalia Bueno, assistant to deputy director for corrections Frank Lopez, said 43 correctional officers are in the Hawai'i Army National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade. Seven already are activated.

Bueno also said six deputy sheriffs have been activated and that the department anticipates that number could grow to 15. The department has 1,206 correctional officers and 234 deputy sheriffs statewide, she said.

• Hawai'i County: Big Island Mayor Harry Kim said Civil Defense Assistant Administrator Lanny Nakano will temporarily take over as acting administrator while Kindred is gone. Other county agencies will be asked to help shoulder responsibilities traditionally handled by Civil Defense.

Kim, who served as Civil Defense director for 24 years, will also have a hand in agency operations.

"Administratively we will work this out in regards to Lanny and myself on the 24/7 type of responsibilities until we can get other people trained for it," he said.

Among other Big Island county agencies, Kim said the most significant impacts will be felt by the police and fire departments, which both had unfilled vacancies even before the latest call-up.

"You cannot lessen the number of people out on the streets, and therefore with those vacancies, we'll just have to see where personnel have to be shifted," he said.

"I think all of us are concerned for those who are being called up."

• Big Island police: The department has received word so far that three officers from Kona and one from Ka'u will be activated, said Deputy Chief Harry Kubojiri. Two Big Island police recruits were called up earlier and deployed to Iraq, and a Puna patrol officer is already serving in Afghanistan, he said.

That is relatively few officers in a department of 413 authorized positions for sworn personnel, but the department has 63 vacancies on the force it is trying to fill, Kubojiri said.

To cover vacant patrol positions, the department may move some community policing officers into patrol positions temporarily, he said. If still more officers are called up later, the department may have to reach into other specialized areas such as juvenile aid or vice for officers to handle patrol duties.

"Naturally that would be last resort that we'd look at, but nonetheless we still have a responsibility to the community to core policing values, and a duty to have our guys out there on the roads," he said. "Bottom line, it will impact the extra services that we provide to the community should the activation become more than the seven."

• Big Island Fire Department: Six members of the department were called up in an earlier activation, and two more have been called up so far in the latest activation, said Fire Chief Darryl Oliveira.

The department has a total of 349 uniform staff, but has standing 46 vacancies, and another 42 positions recently authorized by the county council and mayor that have not yet been filled.

Oliveira said the department will use overtime and call in off-duty firefighters if need be to make sure the department continues to maintain services, "but it does raise a management concern in terms of increase in cost," he said.

• Maui: No top Maui County officials have been called up for military service. Officials said they are unaware if, or how many, rank-and-file employees have been called up.

• Kaua'i: County representative Cyndi Mei Ozaki said no top officials have been called up. She said the departments have been asked to provide a full accounting of how many employees will be lost, but that information isn't expected until next week.

• Elected officials: Three elected officials are in the Guard or Reserve, but none have been called into active duty.

Rep. K. Mark Takai, D-34th (Pearl City, Newtown, Royal Summit), and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard Tamayo, D-42nd (Waipahu, Honouliuli, 'Ewa), are both in the Hawai'i Army National Guard. Takai is a preventive medical officer and Tamayo works in patient administration. Takai said the medical command he belongs to is attached to the state headquarters and is not deployable.

Honolulu City Councilman Charles Djou, an Army Reserve first lieutenant, serves in the Judge Advocate General Corps. He said 80 percent of his unit has been mobilized but he was not. He said he doesn't expect to be called to duty, "but you never know."

He said a bill scheduled to be heard at the end of this month would allow the Honolulu City Council to appoint a temporary council member to fill in for a member who is on deployment.

• State Department of Education: Officials will not know how many employees are involved in the call-up until they formally ask for leave. But officials believe that earlier estimates from the teachers' union that 600 DOE workers could be affected were high.

"At this point, it doesn't seem to be a major concern at schools," said Greg Knudsen, a DOE spokesman.

On the Big Island, Kindred is a captain and was recently transferred to a new position as liaison officer of the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade staff.

The 29th Separate Infantry Brigade has been alerted of a call-up, and is expected to undergo several months of full-time pre-deployment training. That means the soldiers could be mobilized as early as September for a year of duty in Iraq.

Kindred first joined the U.S. Army in 1981, and joined the Hawai'i Army National Guard in 1987, but this is his first call-up for an extended deployment. Kindred has a wife and three daughters, age 11, 4 and 4 months.

"We're in a period of transition, just as we start to get our hands around this that I'm going to deploy most likely, and that it's going to be for a pretty long time," Kindred said. "We're just trying to make sure that we work through it and make sure that they're going to be squared away while I'm away."

Another challenge is to "find the appropriate way to explain everything to my daughters, given the different age groups we're talking to. My oldest knows the deal, the 4-year-old can't know the deal — time just really doesn't have that same meaning for her, so it's a little bit of a challenge."

For himself, Kindred said the pending deployment "is definitely something I take very seriously. I've trained for all of my adult life for something like this, for the eventuality that this might happen, and I'm just as concerned and worried about it as everybody else is, but I've always known this is a possibility.

"It's a long time to be away," he said.