2 Guard units from Maine put on alert

BANGOR – Two Army National Guard units based here are one step from mobilization and deployment as members of the United Nations Security Council await a Valentine’s Day report by two key U.N. weapons inspectors who will visit Baghdad this weekend.

The 112th Medical Company (Air Ambulance) and the 1136th Transportation Company began the readiness process Thursday morning, when 325 soldiers, including one unit based in Sanford, reported for duty at the Armed Forces Reserve Center off Outer Hammond Street and the Bangor Armory, according to Lt. Col. John Mosher, executive officer of the 52nd Troop Command.

Today and over the weekend, soldiers will go over personnel records, pay documents and family readiness plans with their superiors, he said. They also will get equipment and supplies in order, then await further orders.

“Based on readiness ratings, these two units are two of the best in their fields in the entire Army,” said Mosher. “That’s probably why they were put on this alert.”

Processing for mobilization readiness usually takes about five days, Mosher said Thursday. The next step would be for the units to be sent to a mobilization base within the continental United States before possibly being deployed to a theater of operations.

The spouse of a member of the 112th Medical Company said Thursday that some members of that unit were going to their mobilization base, Fort Drum, in northern New York, on Monday.

Mosher said that he could not discuss possible mobilization and deployment plans, but that troops had been preparing for the possibility.

“Five members of these units got married this week,” he said. “Soldiers have been getting prepared mentally and putting family plans in place. They have good attitudes, are highly motivated and their families are rallying behind them.”

Many of the soldiers apparently received orders to report to Bangor the day before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell urged the U.N. Security Council to move against Saddam Hussein.

Powell’s presentation Wednesday included photographs, intercepted conversations between senior Iraqi officers and statements from informants. He said that Iraq has failed to disarm, harbors terrorists and hides behind a “web of lies.”

For many at the United Nations, a visit to Baghdad this weekend by chief weapons inspectors Hans Blix and Mohamed ElBaradei, followed by their next reports to the council on Friday, Feb. 14, will be critical for any decision on war.

A reception for soldiers of the 112th Medical Company and 1136th Transportation Company and their families will be held at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, at Peakes Auditorium at Bangor High School.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.