Bernardo later explained that the more zig-zagging, the less an Iraqi machine-gunner would be able to take a bead on the Marines.

For some, the tips are new. But for other 3rd Radio Marines, it's business as usual.

The Kane'ohe Bay unit, which specializes in electronic warfare, is making its third battalion deployment to Iraq. Smaller detachments have deployed almost continuously.

Of the approximately 200 Marines making the latest nine-month trip, 75 have been to Iraq at least once before with the battalion. Thirty already have been there twice.

Sgt. Patrick Olufs, of Gig Harbor, Wash., practices with other 3rd Radio Battalion members. Of the 200 Marines preparing to deploy to Iraq, 75 have been there at least once, and 30 have been there twice. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

But return engagements to war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan are becoming the new norm, providing excitement for some, death and injury for others, constant worry for family and angst among recruiters.

"If you join the Corps now just thinking you are going to go to college, you're probably mistaken," said Staff Sgt. Jayson Landin, 31, from Wellington, Ohio, who made his first trip to Iraq with another unit at the start of the war.

"Today, if you come in, you should be expecting to go (to a war zone) within the next few years," he added.

And go again sometime after that.

With next month's deployment to Afghanistan by about 1,000 Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, all three infantry battalions at Kane'ohe Bay will have served in war — in less than a year's time.

Sgt. Chad Bernardo directed convoy drills Friday at Bellows Air Force Station. By next month, all three infantry battalions at Kane'ohe will have served in a combat zone in less than a year's time. Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser

Meanwhile, the 1st Battalion — which fought in Fallujah in November and lost 46 Marines and sailors in Iraq — is expected to deploy to Afghanistan early next year.

The pace has created difficulties for recruiters, who have missed their recruiting, or contracting, goals nationally for the fourth month in a row.

What's more important, said Maj. David M. Griesmer, a spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command in Quantico, Va., is that the Corps continues to meet its goals for Marines shipped to boot camp.

"That's the goal we are focused on, and we have met that every month this year," Griesmer said.

The Corps has 18,043 individuals out of a target of 17,739 (or 102 percent) who have enlisted and are beginning basic training in the fiscal year that began in October.

But, year to date the Corps is at 98 percent of its contracting target of 21,258 for those who have signed a "promise to serve."

"At some point, if we continue to miss contracting — and I don't know where that point would be — you'd have a problem shipping," Griesmer said.

Trained to deploy

Griesmer said the Marine Corps is unique in its appeal, and the length of time it would like individuals to serve.

"Young kid joins the Marine Corps, he's joining to go places," Griesmer said. "We're an expeditionary service and whether you're in Afghanistan or Iraq or helping with tsunami relief in Sri Lanka ... that's what Marines do. They go places, so you know that coming in, and that attracts a different kind of individual."

By design, the Corps wants Marines to serve one term, usually a four-year contract, and then get out.

"We're infantry-based and you need lots of young people — privates, private first classes and lance corporals," Griesmer said. "But that pyramid goes up pretty quickly and you only need a certain number of sergeants, so the system is designed so that about 25 percent would stay in after their first term and 75 percent will finish their four-year commitment and then return to civilian life."

Sgt. Jason Butler, 27, a married Marine with two kids from Park City, Utah, said "it's taken me quite a while to get to a battalion that's going to be deploying."

A Marine for nearly nine years, he's heading to Afghanistan with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marines, on his first combat deployment.

"It was my whole goal to actually get back into an infantry battalion to participate in (Operation Iraqi Freedom or Enduring Freedom)," Butler said. "I'm pretty proud to say I'm actually going now — finally."

Butler said every infantry Marine he has known, "that's the reason we're here, and that's why we're part of an infantry unit — to go to war. It's pretty much how we train night and day."

The fact her husband is going to Afghanistan and not Iraq is no solace for Melody Butler.

"Anytime our husbands get paid hazardous duty pay, I think you have a right to worry," she said.

Excitement, fear

Maj. Don Welch, 3rd Radio Battalion's executive officer, said during Operation Iraqi Freedom 1 at the start of the war, at least one Hawai'i Marine was wounded by enemy fire. During Operation Iraqi Freedom 2, a 3rd Radio Marine was injured in a rocket attack.

The unit received 15 Navy commendation medals and 23 Navy achievement medals for OIF-2, he said. At least 50 Marines already have left for Al Anbar province in western Iraq in the latest deployment, and 120 to 130 more are leaving in a couple of weeks.

Welch said every deploying Marine has issues to work through, whether personal or family. Some voluntarily extended their service to make the deployment.

"There are Marines looking forward to going," he said. "I'm sure there are Marines who are anxious or worried about going back for a third time."

Landin, a Marine with 3rd Radio Battalion, said "your first deployment there (to Iraq) is all exciting. But this is my second time now. I'm not going to say I'm happy to go; I'm going because it's my duty."

Value, danger in work

Sgt. Nathan Hegvik, 26, an Arabic linguist who was based in England but is heading to Iraq with 3rd Radio Battalion as an augmentee, said it's hard to make a second trip "especially when I had about two weeks' notice from the time I found out till the time I came out here (to Hawai'i)."

Hegvik, who is married, said his wife "is not happy about it (the deployment) at all. But I think she'll be OK. We've been through it before."

Both Landin and Hegvik see value in serving again in Iraq — and the danger.

"The work we do is important, and not everyone is going to see that, but it does make a difference," Hegvik said.

"The people do need our help," Landin said. "People only see what's on the news and they only see the bad news. But this is a country that's in dire need of help, and I believe we are making progress there."

The increasing sophistication of roadside bombs "is a real danger anywhere you go," Hegvik said. "It used to be certain areas were relatively safe. In my opinion, that's not true anymore."

Landin wants to make a career out of the Marine Corps. Hegvik is getting out in September 2006 and hopes to land a job with the National Security Agency.

The repeat deployments are hard on all service members and Hegvik has seen more attrition than he expected.

"Across the military, there is going to be a long-term effect," Hegvik said. "It's going to be harder to keep quality people in."