FORT KENT – Most of the communities that have people in the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery, have noticed their young men leaving town during the last several weeks.

They are part of a 124-member unit that is being mobilized for one year of service in Iraq, Maj. Peter Rogers, Maine Army National Guard director of public affairs, said Tuesday afternoon.

Already on full-time duty, the 124 men will leave Maine for Fort Drum, N.Y., in January for deployment to Iraq. The battalion has about 400 soldiers, and the deployment includes about 30 percent of that total. The men were called up for 12 months of duty overseas providing security for troops in Iraq.

Rogers said he is confident the remainder of the battalion will not be called to active duty. The battalion has batteries in Fort Kent, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton, Calais and Waterville.

“We received their mobilization today, effective the first week in January,” Rogers said. “We are looking at a total of 124 soldiers taken from the different batteries of the battalion.

“The men will be at home for the holidays, and then they will be leaving,” he said. “They will not be going to New York until after the first of January.”

Rogers said the ages of the 124 soldiers range from the very young to very experienced troops. Their mission was not specified in the mobilization order, but Rogers said reports are that they will be involved in security.

“While this looks like the complete opposite of their artillery training, it is not,” he said. “Security is always part of their mission because they must provide protection and security of their own battalion. They do a lot of those security tasks already.”

The men involved in the mobilization call already are in southern Maine. They returned to active duty over the last several weeks. After the first of January, they will go from the rolls of the Maine Army National Guard onto active-duty rolls of the U.S. Army.

The 124 men bring to about 1,100 the number of Maine soldiers called to active duty, not including others who were reserve military troops. The reserves also have called Maine residents to service since the war started in Iraq.

Other Maine National Guard members also are on their way overseas. Nearly 500 members of the 133rd Engineering Battalion are scheduled to leave for New York the third week of December. They will be deployed to the Middle East shortly thereafter, joining 27 members of the 133rd already there.

In addition, 128 members of the 112th Medical Company are in Kuwait and Iraq, and 141 members of the 1136th Transportation Company are in Kuwait.

This is the largest mobilization of Maine Army National Guard since World War II, Rogers said.

Reports were floating around the St. John Valley and Caribou areas last month about the call-up of men from northern Maine. The report said that 126 troops were being called to serve as military police officers.

At that time, Rogers said it could be months before a mobilization order comes. The call, however, came sooner than expected.