Iraq war hits home with Guard deployment

BOISE — Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the war efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq have mostly seemed a world away from the peaceful mountains and quiet deserts of Idaho.

Mountain Home Air Force Base was called to serve in the first wave of attacks against the Taliban in Afghanistan, and smaller Idaho Air National Guard units have carried out specialized missions since then in Iraq, Qatar and Uzbekistan.

But nothing will compare to the impact that the 2,000 homegrown soldiers will have on the state as the 116th Cavalry Brigade is sent to Iraq this fall in the largest deployment of the Idaho National Guard.

This weekend marks the beginning of their planned one-year tour of duty in Iraq. Before the one-year clock starts ticking, the soldiers will first travel to Fort Bliss, Texas, for several months of training before shipping out for duty in Iraq sometime next fall.

The Idaho Guard will be joined in Texas by militias from Oregon, Utah, Montana, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The combined unit will serve under the command of Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, a Pocatello native with 33 years of military experience.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt it’s a hazardous mission,” Gayhart said last week in a telephone interview with the Associated Press.

Unlike so-called regular military personnel who serve the federal government, National Guardsmen are reservists under the command of the states until called up for federal service by the U.S. Department of Defense.

National Guardsmen are exceptional because they are part of the fabric of their communities, Gov. Dirk Kempthorne has said. Most hold full-time civilian jobs and conduct their military training part-time, usually one weekend a month and two full weeks a year.

The number of Idaho Guardsmen being deployed this summer is equivalent to all the working-age adults who live in cities the size of Orofino, Ketchum, American Falls or Fruitland.

And they’re taking a massive amount of equipment — 100 rail cars full of gear — including approximately 15 M1A1 Abrams tanks and six 155 mm self-propelled cannons. The material will travel by ship to Iraq while the troops are training in Texas.

Staff Sgt. David Burbank, of Meridian, is a 24-year-old student at the University of Idaho, working on a degree in fisheries biology. He’s putting his degree on hold to serve as an intelligence analyst for the 116th.

“It’s definitely not good timing, but it’s never a good time for a deployment,” said Burbank, who has already served a four-year hitch in the regular Army. “If this is the time, that’s fine.”

Altogether, there are 2,200 enlisted personnel, 166 officers and 23 warrant officers assigned to the 116th.

Lt. Col. Tim Marsano, the Guard’s spokesman, said several hundred members of the unit would not be deployed to Iraq because they have already served more than a year on stateside assignments, such as providing security for Gowen Field in Boise, Mountain Home Air Force Base and Hill Air Force Base in Utah.

Federal regulations stipulate that National Guardsmen can only serve two-year stretches on full-time active duty, Marsano said.

About three-fourths of the personnel headed for Iraq are from southwestern Idaho. Ada County will send 1,054 soldiers; Canyon County will provide 403.

In other areas around the state, Bannock County is sending 223 personnel; Kootenai County 163; Twin Falls County 139; Bonneville County 96; and Bingham County 88. Forty-two of the state’s 44 counties will send at least one Guard member.

The soldiers being mobilized cover a wide array of specialties. On the front lines, there will be combat engineers, tank crews, cannon crews, radio operators and equipment drivers.

Right behind them will be a host of support personnel – people who fix the vehicles and gas them up. Others will store, load and maintain the armament.

There will be weather forecasters, intelligence analysts, supply officers, computer technicians, administrative and finance personnel and cooks.

Doctors and medics will patch up the wounded. Morticians will prepare the casualties for the long trip home, where clergy and counselors will do what they can to help the families.

Gayhart does not dwell on the potential loss of life, but he has had to prepare his soldiers for it, nonetheless.

“We have worked very hard with family support groups and spouses of soldiers to make sure they have the pertinent information,” Gayhart said.

“We have conducted and are conducting soldier care issues, such as psychological counseling and suicide prevention. And we will be conducting formal counseling sessions for all leaders and commanders to deal with the issues if we have a casualty. It’s a traumatic thing, if that does occur.”

But fear of death does not appear to be on the minds of the soldiers.

Since the terrorist attacks nearly three years ago, the Idaho Guard has signed up nearly 600 new recruits; many with previous military experience.

“I’d say the lion’s share of those are going” to Iraq, Marsano said.

One is Staff Sgt. Bob Tettleton, a 35-year-old veteran of the first Iraq war, during which he served as a Marine aboard a hovercraft.

After serving 13 years, Tettleton returned to civilian life to work as a scanning electron microscope engineer at a contractor for Micron Technology.

Three months ago, the husband and father of five re-enlisted in the Army National Guard as a scout. His job is to move undetected into hostile territory, set up surveillance and report enemy movements.

Tettleton said he decided to re-enlist because of the retirement benefits offered by the Army. His wife and children were understanding.

“The only reservation I had was telling my mother, and she had some choice words for me,” the Arizona native said.

Although many of the combat soldiers are more familiar with heavy artillery and tank operations, Gayhart said they will cross-train for closer contact with the enemy – urban warfare.

During the next 30 days, Gayhart will focus the training on basic soldiering – marksmanship, survival skills and the like.

Gayhart commanded a 500-soldier unit in Germany during the later years of the Cold War, from 1983 to 1985, but this will be his largest command.

“The first emphasis is to build the team. Then we’ll go into the theater to conduct the unit as a team.”

But before that will be the goodbyes to family and friends this weekend, when the reality of the war in Iraq hits Idaho squarely.

“There is definitely some hesitation,” Burbank said. “It hasn’t fully sunk in yet.”