Fifty citizen soldiers from the Hawaii Army National Guard and their Black Hawk helicopters are on their way to Kuwait for a nine-month deployment instead of Iraq.

The soldiers from Company C, 1st Battalion, 207th Regiment were at Fort Hood in Texas in pre-deployment training.

The unit left Hilo in August for Texas. The Pentagon did not say when the unit left.

Meanwhile, another Hilo-base Hawaii Air National Guard unit left today for southwest Asia.

The 50 airmen, air traffic control and radio communications specialists belong to the 291st Combat Communications Squadron. The unit will be away for six months.

The mission of the 291st will be to provide communications support to U.S. Air Force units within the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing’s area of responsibility.