Training mission

One simulated bomb — a pipe filled with nails and screws — was positioned in the inner corner of a gated courtyard, ready to be fired at any U.S. soldier who tripped a fine black cord stretching 3 inches off the ground across the gate’s threshold.

Another bomb was attached to a pair of pliers seemingly dropped in the dirt in what was meant to be a town square in southern Afghanistan.  

“Wow,” responded John Udani, a Honolulu police officer and major with the Hawaii Army National Guard, when some twigs were kicked away to reveal another wire leading to a device planted in the ground.

“That’s not something that we experienced on our first two deployments (to Iraq) because we were always on convoys,” Udani, 40, from Kapolei, said later.

The Hawaii Guard’s 29th Brigade Combat Team deployed to Iraq and Kuwait in 2005 and late 2008.

About 60 citizen soldiers with the 29th Brigade Combat Team were 11 days into a month’s worth of annual training Wednesday at a remote area of Schofield Barracks — training that will have a real-world application in about five months.

In early November, about 140 of the Hawaii soldiers are expected to deploy to Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.

It will be the first combat mission to the country for most at a time when the U.S. is drawing back and changing its mission, and it will mean groups of nine to 12 Hawaii soldiers helping train larger elements of Afghan army soldiers and police.

With the escalating number of attacks on U.S. troops by Afghan forces, the lopsided ratio is another cause for concern.

“That’s one of the things I’m kind of prepping these guys for,” said Udani, who will lead one of those teams.

About 200 National Guard soldiers, most from Hawaii but also including a team from Guam and three teams from Arizona, are training to create 16 Security Force Assistance Advisor Teams.

The United States is moving from a combat role to a training stance in Afghanistan as it continues a large troop drawdown this summer.

About 23,000 of the 88,000 U.S. troops in the country will be home by the end of September, CNN reported. Most American forces are expected to be out of Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

The Marine Corps contingent is expected to shrink by the fall to 7,000 or less from a number double that in Helmand province, and the 3rd Marine Regiment at Kaneohe Bay recently announced the end of Hawaii infantry battalion rotations to Afghanistan with a refocus on the Pacific.

The 1,000 Marines with the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, at Kaneohe Bay have started to deploy to Okinawa, Japan and Australia as part of that shift, with 200 Marines expected to leave today for Japan.

The Hawaii National Guard’s upcoming Afghanistan deployment also reflects the changing U.S. focus. More than 2,000 Hawaii soldiers were told in the spring of 2011 that they were on notice for a possible 2013 Afghanistan deployment.

That total has since been whittled down to the 140 with the advise and assist teams.

Col. Kenneth S. Hara, the 29th Brigade commander, said he expects the soldiers to be mobilized for active duty at the end of July, with nine months of Afghanistan duty starting in early November.

The training role with Afghan counterparts is being tasked to higher-ranking U.S. soldiers.

“Almost all of the leadership — the officers and senior (noncommissioned officer) leadership — was pulled out to support the brigade (on the deployment),” said Hara, who is among those deploying.

About 60 of the Hawaii National Guard and Guam soldiers moved through mock Afghan villages at Schofield Barracks on foot and in convoys looking for signs of roadside bombs Wednesday.

Trainers told the Hawaii soldiers that the enemy observes U.S. tactics and tries to plant bombs based on those tactics.

Hara said he’s “very worried” about roadside bombs.

“That’s the most dangerous threat on the battlefield in Afghanistan,” he said. “What we learned here is the enemy watches what we do. We do something to defeat what he is doing and then he changes his tactics, techniques and procedures and we’ve got to react again to what he’s doing.”

Sgt. Jason Salvador, 38, from Maui, will be making his first combat deployment with the group.

“Kind of excited and scared at the same time,” Salvador said of the upcoming mission.