650 Maine Guard soldiers put on alert

BANGOR – Several hundred members of the Maine Army National Guard are on alert status and are preparing for possible deployment to the Middle East.

“We currently have about 400 soldiers who are deployed right now,” Maj. Peter Rogers, director of public affairs for Maine’s National Guard, said Sunday. “And we have another 650 on alert status right now.”

Approximately 130 members of the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery unit, who are primarily from Aroostook County, received an alert order in late October for possible mobilization.

On Thursday, approximately 500 members of the 133rd Engineering Battalion, Combat Heavy unit, based mostly in southern Maine, also were alerted.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean they will be mobilized, but they have been put on alert,” said Rogers.

The 1st Battalion is headquartered in Caribou. However, the unit includes soldiers from Presque Isle, Waterville, Calais, Houlton and Fort Kent.

“We believe they will be providing security, but we have not received any specific orders at this point,” said Rogers. “We do know they’ll be involved in a security mission. As an artillery unit they usually fire the big cannons, but they do also have the mission of force protection.”

The 133rd Engineering Battalion comprises soldiers from Skowhegan, Portland, Gardiner, Westbrook and Norway.

Soldiers will find out exactly when they leave, where they are going and what they will be doing when they receive mobilization orders.

“It [the alert status] gives the soldiers a heads-up, and it gives them time to get matters in order,” said Rogers.

The Maine Army National Guard maintains 29 armories and has units in 26 communities.

Maine’s troops are part of the 37,000 National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers who will join 75,000 active-duty military personnel heading to Iraq and Kuwait early next year to replace the forces already on the ground, Rogers said.

U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced last week that the majority of the 120,000 additional troops needed have already received their alert orders.

The rotations in and out of Iraq will start in January and should be completed by April, said Rumsfeld.

During Thursday’s press conference, Rumsfeld also said he wants the United States to limit Iraq tours to 18 months and to decrease the U.S. divisions in Iraq from four to three and combat brigades from 17 to 13. A majority of the units scheduled for Iraq are for combat support and services.

The eventual goal is to hand over the security mission to the Iraqi people, Rumsfeld said. He said currently there are 118,000 Iraqis training for security units.

The citizen-soldiers who make up the National Guard have fought in every major American war since 1637. In 1933, the National Guard Mobilization Act made the National Guard a component of the Army.

The Army National Guard currently has oversea deployments from each state, the territories of Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, along with the District of Columbia.