KUWAIT NAVAL BASE, Kuwait — The soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 487th Field Artillery knew they would have a largely nonartillery mission in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Like other Hawai'i National Guard soldiers, the heavy-weapons experts had received infantry training before deploying.

"Because it was new, it was kind of exciting for the guys," said their commander, Lt. Col. Keith Tamashiro.

And they had done well at it.

"The evaluators were impressed how we did (infantry tactics like) cordon and search," said Tamashiro, who lives in Wahiawa and works for the state Department of Human Services. "So our attitude was, 'This isn't bad.' "

The battalion then found out it would be providing base security in Kuwait.

"We thought we were all going up north (to Iraq) as a team. At first, it was hard for the guys, because we trained up for (infantry duties)," said Staff Sgt. Shane Vendiola, 27, who works at the Kalaeloa commissary. "But some guys look at it like, Hey, we're a little bit safer than being up north."

The attitude of the approximately 450 soldiers can be summed up by their motto: Hiki No. Can Do.

"Whatever job they put out for us — we meet or beat all expectations," Vendiola said.

The 1st of the 487th performs the same kind of work as many of the Hawai'i Guard soldiers in Iraq — manning guard towers and base entry control points. But in Kuwait, temperatures hitting 120 and 130 degrees feel even hotter because of the seacoast humidity.

And there is the threat of terrorist attack. Through the ports of the naval base and the Seaport of Debarkation at Ash Shuaybah, 20 minutes to the north, come the ships that deliver, in military-speak, the "beans and bullets" with which the war is fought.

The Reception, Staging and Onward Integration effort mounted in Kuwait represents the biggest continuous logistics operation since World War II. About 400 trucks cross the border with Iraq every day.

"I think everyone focuses on kicking in doors up north," said 1st Lt. Shawn Naito, 35, who lives in the Punchbowl area. "Everything that comes in via water comes in through this port. People don't realize it, but it's a real important mission."

During shipping surges, the harbors — which have the same sort of scale and industrial atmosphere as Pearl Harbor — teem with cargo ships. Vehicle yards fill up and the base doubles in population.

Most of the 1st of the 487th is at Camp Patriot on Kuwait Naval Base. The 227th Engineer Company is at Camp Arifjan, and other Hawai'i elements are at camps like Doha — among the dozen the United States maintains in the desert terrain of Kuwait. About 100 of the field artillery soldiers are in Iraq providing fire support.

Kuwait Naval Base and the Seaport of Debarkation share the coastline with a large oil refinery and concrete plant.

There is seawater, but the soldiers are prohibited by the U.S. Kuwait theater command from swimming in it because of liability concerns.

A 1,100-meter pier that curves out into the Persian Gulf provides a spot to run and to fish for stinkfish, barracuda and snapper, and an indoor lap pool and diving well are available for the approximately 1,500 U.S. military people at the naval base.

There are no free-time visits to Kuwait City, and on missions outside the base, troops are armed but drive in sport-utility vehicles and do not wear body armor.

One big advantage for the Hawai'i soldiers is that Tamashiro is the base commander, and his soldiers run the camp. That means loco moco every Friday in the dining facility. There's even sticky rice.

"As for local foods, brah, these guys help out with the morale," Vendiola said. "They make adobo. They even make Hawai'i beef stew some nights."

If Tamashiro needs something built, he can call on carpenters in his battalion, such as Sgt. 1st Class Jacob Kuni, 59, of Nanakuli, a 227th engineer who built clear plastic shields around guard towers and hooked up air conditioners to them.

"The commander wanted to enclose our towers and didn't want to wait for (contractor Kellogg Brown and Root). I said, 'Sir, you give me the materials and I'll do it,' " Kuni said. "They (the soldiers) like it, and they told me, 'Right on Sgt. Kuni.' "

The heat is an ever-oppressive factor, and when a black flag flies over the camp — as on this day — it means temperatures are above 120, and soldiers on guard duty can open the sleeves of their uniforms and take off body armor.

Vendiola, who had been on gate guard duty for about four hours already, was sweat-soaked from his shoulders to his chest. A canopy over the checkpoint and a plywood shack with a swamp cooler inside provided some relief.

"They told us it gets hot up here, and we said, 'Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're from Hawai'i,' " the 'Ewa Beach man said. "The heat came and caught everybody by surprise. Believe it or not, a lot of us are getting used to it. We can't stay in the AC very long. We get cold."

The Hawai'i soldiers are seeing the U.S. presence in Kuwait diminish. Camp Spearhead at the Seaport of Debarkation was scheduled to close recently, and camps like New York and Doha are following as the United States consolidates at bases away from population centers.

The U.S. force in Kuwait dropped from 20,000 in June of last year to less than 12,000 in May.

Tamashiro has responsibilities for security in southern Kuwait, and the naval base is about 40 minutes from the Saudi Arabia border.

Vendiola said the Hawai'i soldiers "are never out here with bad attitudes. It's good to work with guys who are from the same background."

Said Master Sgt. Paul Confer, 44, from 'Ewa Beach, the operations noncommissioned officer for the battalion: "My heart is up north, but my mission is here. So gotta do the job. Might as well do the best I can here."