Pentagon alerts 18,000 in Guard to ready for duty

WASHINGTON -- About 18,000 National Guard soldiers from four major units have gone on alert for likely deployment to Iraq late this year or in early 2005, the Pentagon said Monday.

The announcement underscores the deepening involvement of Guard and Reserve forces in U.S.-led efforts to quell the insurgency in Iraq and stabilize the country. So far 45 Guard and Reserve members have been killed in action in Iraq and 42 more have died of nonhostile causes.

The Guard units alerted are the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters from the New York National Guard, the 256th Infantry Brigade from Louisiana, the 116th Cavalry Brigade from Idaho and Oregon, and the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Tennessee.

They will be mobilized over the next several months to conduct training before their new assignment, the Pentagon said.

The 42nd Infantry Division from New York will be the first National Guard division headquarters to serve in Iraq; other Guard division headquarters have served in the Balkans in recent years.

Perhaps less than a year

With receipt of the alert notices, members of those units are prevented from leaving the service until 90 days after their mobilization ends.

The Pentagon did not say how long they would be on active duty, suggesting it may be less than the 12-month tours required of Guard and Reserve members now in Iraq and of those heading to Iraq this spring. Under the presidential authority used to mobilize for Iraq, they could be kept on active duty for up to two years.

The Guardsmen will be part of a larger force, probably totaling about 100,000 active duty and reserve troops, that is expected to take over for the contingent just beginning a one-year tour in Iraq.

The length of their mobilization depends on how much training they need as well as the requirements of the Central Command commander, Gen. John Abizaid, who manages the Iraq operation.

The Pentagon said additional Guard forces will be alerted and mobilized for Iraq duty, but did not say how many or from which states. Officials said these probably would be combat support and service support units that will be mobilized after the combat units go on active duty.

The 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment from Tennessee has about 4,500 members, and at least 4,000 of them have been placed on alert, according to Tennessee Guard spokesman Randy Harris. They include three cavalry squadrons, headquartered in Athens, Kingsport and Cookeville, as well as a support squadron based in Knoxville. Harris said the 278th has not been mobilized for active duty since the Korean War, more than 50 years ago.

The Louisiana Guard's 256th Infantry Brigade, with about 3,800 soldiers, received its alert order Monday, said Dusty Shenofsky, spokeswoman for the state adjutant general's office. She said the brigade was on active duty most recently during the 1991 Gulf War.

"The folks in these units will need to start letting their civilian employers know," Shenofsky said. "They will also want to start doing things like making sure their medical records are up to date, making sure they have wills and arranging for child care if they are single parents."

The 116th Armored Brigade, with units in Idaho and Oregon, includes Oregon's 3rd battalion of the 116th Cavalry, headquartered in La Grande, as well as elements of the 1st battalion of the 82nd Cavalry, at Bend.

Spokeswoman Kay Frystad said the Oregon Guard already has 1,700 soldiers on active duty for Iraq, including 700 from an infantry battalion that is about to enter Iraq. Monday's alert notification affects an additional 700 from Oregon, she said, although they are not yet on active duty.

The alert order applies to approximately 1,000 soldiers with the 42nd Infantry Division headquarters in Troy, N.Y., said Scott Sandman a spokesman for New York's division of military and naval affairs.

The alerts were issued well in advance in order to give the Guard members adequate time to prepare for the likelihood of being mobilized. Many Guardsmen and some members of Congress complained that earlier mobilizations for Iraq came with little notice.

The Pentagon is relying heavily upon Guard and Reserve troops in Iraq.

Three Guard brigades -- from Arkansas, North Carolina and Washington state -- are part of the current troop rotation, which is in midcourse. They will spend a full year in Iraq, to be replaced by the newly alerted Guard units, if the Pentagon's current projection of troop requirements remains steady.

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