Gatekeepers on vital mission

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — The entry control point has the look and feel of Mel Gibson's futuristic "Mad Max" movies.

Sgt. Pedro Ortiz of Delta Company, 2-299th Infantry, uses a retina scanner to check the identification of an Iraqi worker being screened and processed to enter Camp Victory. Base defense is the primary responsibility for the Koa battalion soldiers in Iraq. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Beyond is the general population of Iraq, including a minority with car bombs, AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades seeking to kill Americans.

Inside, and with some extra security precautions to spare, is access to Camp Victory, with a coalition population of about 15,000, and a half dozen or so other U.S. camps ringing Baghdad International Airport.

At 7 o'clock each morning, Hawai'i National Guard soldiers open the gate to 1,200 local nationals who work on the base, and 300 cars and trucks.

A Company soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 299th Infantry are a hands-on early line of defense against would-be attackers, and they understand the responsibility.

"Every mission we do is extremely important," said Lt. Col. Kenneth Hara, the Koa battalion commander. "If we fail in any mission, it can be international news in a heartbeat."

Here at the gate, and another on base, Hawai'i soldiers work 12-hour shifts, six days a week.

Base defense is the primary mission of the more than 600 soldiers of the Koa battalion.

At the A Company gate, soldiers frisk walk-ins, temporarily hold the weapons that many Iraqis carry for self-defense, and check IDs.

Cell phones or any electronics, which can trigger a bomb, are confiscated. Other A Company soldiers inspect trucks.

"This is not my ideal mission, but we can't choose our mission. So I do everything I can to do this right," said Staff Sgt. Ferdinand Penaflor, 32, who's originally from Guam, but who now lives in Royal Kunia.

Knows what's at stake

In the five months the Guard soldiers have been in Iraq, they've gotten very good at what they do, including spotting phony IDs among the six state-issued legitimate ones.

Some are very good. Others have blunders like the word "Ministry" spelled "Miniatry" in a circular seal.

"We know every trick to make them fake," said Penaflor, who works full time for the Guard back in Hawai'i.

Penaflor has seen how much can be at stake in a country in which insurgents increasingly are targeting Iraqis working with Americans, instead of the Americans themselves.

Iraqi media reported the capture of four insurgents who were identifying base workers and assassinating them, Penaflor said. Twenty-five were killed.

"They would use this gate," he said. "I remember seeing them daily."

Although the soldiers work in full combat gear and man defensive positions, they also get to know many of the workers, and the workers get to know them.

Or think they do.

"They all thought I was Chinese," Penaflor said. Staff Sgt. William Castillo "they insisted is Iraqi." And some of the workers decided Sgt. Brian Doo is Kurdish.

Doo has learned a lot of Arabic.

"When he starts talking, because he picked up the language really quickly, they were awestruck," Penaflor said.

Freedom, respect

The processing of workers at the gate has created its own economy. Outside the gate there are tea stands and cell phone watchers. Boys collect empty cans to recycle from workers in line.

Coming through the line, 20-year-old Husam Fadhel, a truck driver, said his job on base is "very good" and that the Americans "provide the future and freedom of Iraq."

Husan Turky, a 49-year-old in a blue polo shirt and khaki pants who works as an electrician, also said working on base is a good job.

"He's talking about dealings with him, the Americans dealing with him, they respect him," Turky said through an interpreter.

Spc. Danny Tabura, 38, a landscaper from Kaua'i, said he didn't expect to have this kind of job in Iraq.

"I thought I'd do more of an outside (the base) job," Tabura said. "I don't mind doing this — it's safer."

Tabura said everyone is doing OK, despite the long working days in temperatures that already have climbed into the 120s.

Career moves mixed

But the 21-year guardsman said he plans on getting out after the deployment.

"I can't wait to get out, leave this all behind, and start a better life again," he said. Tabura is married and has kids who are 6 and 4.

"They are missing me," he said. Asked if six-month deployments instead of a year would make a big difference, he said, "Oh, yeah."

Spc. Rodney Sasil, 39, a tour driver and auto mechanic with Roberts Hawaii who lives on Kaua'i, said it's an honor to serve his country in Iraq.

"When you are in for 22 years, finally you get the chance to go out (on a combat deployment)," he said.

The Iraq deployment is a historic one for the 29th Separate Infantry Brigade. Not since Vietnam has the unit been in combat.

But Sasil, too, plans on separating from the Guard.

"I talked it out with my wife, my family," he said. "They gave me a lot of support. Now it's time for me to hang up the rucksack."

In Iraq, the Hawai'i soldiers get homesick, but "we get into a group and talk it out," he said. "Everyone's like this," he added, putting up two fingers held together. "It's a good feeling."

Sgt. Lemuel Illastron, 37, from Kaua'i, was scrambling around trucks in body armor and helmet in the intense heat looking for anything suspicious.

"This one has a new welding spot on it," said the 15-year Guard member and security supervisor as he examined a tanker. After some checking, Illastron allowed it to pass.

At a separate base checkpoint, Staff Sgt. Pedro Ortiz, 30, who's with D Company, checked the IDs of outside workers and issued base badges.

Part of the identification process includes having a retina scan that soldiers can check against a database.

The 'Aiea man, who was regular Army at Schofield Barracks and has a Ranger tab, was on his 16th straight day of work.

He doesn't dwell on the work hours.

"Don't even think about it," he said. "Every day is a new day. My whole thing is, my guys see me stressing, they'll stress more."

He's got four years of active duty, six more with the National Guard, and he plans on staying in 10 more to make retirement.

He plans on re-enlisting, and if he does so in a combat zone, expects to pick up an extra $15,000. But he's not doing it for the money.

"The Army's been good to me, even the Guard has been good to me," Ortiz said.