The Hawai'i citizen soldiers who have escorted supply convoys from Kuwait into Iraq since Nov. 11 have faced attempted hijackings, small-arms fire and roadside bomb attacks in Iraq, officials said.

Maj. Pam Ellison, a spokeswoman for the Hawai'i National Guard's 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in Kuwait, said there have been minor injuries to Hawai'i soldiers with the "Convoy Escort Teams."

Most of the attacks "have resulted in minimal, if any, damage to the (Hawai'i National Guard) gun trucks," Ellison said by e-mail. "To date, there has been one incident where a CET crew required medical evaluation as a result of an event, but they were cleared without any significant injuries and returned to duty."

Violence is down overall in Iraq, but roadside bombs or ambushes remain deadly threats, and this month, the Hawai'i soldiers are expected to start getting more convoy protection in the form of big Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles — MRAPs.

Among the hostile actions faced by the Hawai'i soldiers was a roadside bomb that damaged the engine compartment of an armored Humvee gun truck.

To put the enemy contact into perspective, Ellison said 92 percent of the convoy runs so far have been conducted safely without any "hostile action."

The delivery of MRAPs, which have a V-shaped hull that deflects a blast away from crew compartments, will add to the safety provided by the smaller M1151 "up-armored" Humvees the citizen soldiers are using now.

The Ohio National Guard, which preceded Hawai'i in Kuwait and conducted the same convoy security missions into Iraq, was supposed to receive MRAPs, but the allotment was diverted to increasingly violent Afghanistan, officials said.

Few details of the MRAP fielding are being released, but Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, head of the Hawai'i National Guard, said he was confident the soldiers would receive the more heavily armored vehicles.

According to The Associated Press, nearly 9,000 MRAPs are in Iraq and more than 1,100 are in use in Afghanistan.

How many of the MRAPs the Hawai'i National Guard will get is unclear. Convoys in Iraq often include a mix of armored Humvees and MRAPs, with an MRAP in the lead.

MRAPs are proven life-savers, with crews surviving roadside bomb blasts that would tear through the flat bottom of a Humvee.

Different versions are produced by a variety of makers. They include 16-ton Cougars, and 20-ton Joint Explosive Ordnance Disposal Rapid Response, or JEERV, vehicles.

Their weight and tall V-bottom design, which deflects explosive blasts, also makes them prone to rollovers, particularly on soft road shoulders. The vehicles also are far less maneuverable than Humvees, but on highways, where the Hawai'i soldiers do most of their driving in Iraq, MRAPs are prized.

The more than 1,700 Hawai'i soldiers of the National Guard and Army Reserve that are part of the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team have management and security duties at a number of bases in Kuwait and the convoy escort mission into Iraq.

Spc. Reed Kotake recently described a six-day, more than 1,000-mile roundtrip mission to Taji just north of Baghdad in the National Guard's newsletter, the Lava Flow.

Many of the 29th Brigade soldiers served in Iraq and Kuwait in 2005.

"The first thing I notice about Iraq is the smell. It is a smoky, dusty and putrid scent that I remember so well," Kotake said of the Nov. 29 mission. "Everything here smells burnt. 'I'm finally back' rings in my head as I look out the window at the darkness."

Kotake said some of the Humvees, mounted with turrets and weapons on top, had taken fire on one of the training missions when the Ohio National Guard was still in Kuwait, and a bright silver dimple from a gunshot gleamed on the door.

Kotake said the banter in the Humvee diminished as the convoy pushed through Baghdad, but the trip went uneventfully and after 10 hours of rest, the Hawai'i soldiers headed back to Kuwait.

Hawai'i soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 299th Cavalry Squadron were the first to venture into Iraq, conducting a convoy training security mission on Nov. 11.

Some of the first "solo" missions without the Ohio National Guard were conducted in late November and early December.