National Guard troops keep training for Iraq deployment

Everybody else is packing up to leave Iraq, but some Hawaii National Guard soldiers are still training to go there, officials said.

Fifty-two members of Company C, 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, are at Fort Hood in Texas with five Black Hawk helicopters training for an Iraq mission, said National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony.

"They are still currently on orders for Iraq, but there is a possibility that could change," Anthony said Thursday.

Military officials will have to make up their minds soon.

Maj. Gen. Thomas Spoehr, deputy commander for support for U.S. Forces-Iraq, briefed reporters via teleconference Thursday and said the "vast majority" of about 33,000 U.S. troops remaining in Iraq will be out of the country by mid-December.

Spoehr likened the exodus to the "Red Ball Express" of World War II, a massive resupply effort in 1944, and said about 55 convoys are on the road at any given time in Iraq, with 1,650 trucks transporting equipment out of the country.

Equipment also is being left behind. Spoehr said containerized housing, air conditioners and generators would be too costly to bring home.

"We’ve left about 2.5 million items of this kind behind, with a fair market value of $195 million, but with a cost avoidance of $298 million (to move them out of Iraq)," Spoehr said.

Dec. 31 is the deadline for U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq. The deployment of the Hawaii National Guard soldiers could be canceled, or they could still go to Iraq, be re-routed to Afghanistan or receive other orders.

A deployment ceremony was held Aug. 31 for the soldiers, most of whom are based in Hilo.

Other Hawaii-based troops affected by the Iraq pullout include 700 Schofield Barracks soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division headquarters. Maj. Gen. Bernard Champoux, who leads the 25th Division, is the last division-level commander left in Iraq.

On Sept. 22, Champoux met with sheiks in Al Kut, south of Baghdad, and encouraged them to use their influence to make Iraq a more stable nation.

On Thursday a "farewell luncheon" was held by the 25th Division at the Victory Base Complex in Baghdad in recognition of the relationship that is shifting to a U.S. Embassy effort as the U.S. military presence is drawn down.

More than 200 tribal leaders were invited to the event.

Spoehr said the U.S. has 12 bases left in Iraq, down from 505 during the height of the U.S. troop surge.

"This, I should emphasize, though, is not a rush to the exits," Spoehr said. "So it’s a measured plan which ensures our continued force protection at every step of the operation."

A minority of troops will fly out of Iraq directly back to the United States, but the majority will fly to Kuwait and then board other aircraft there, he said.