The Hawaii National Guard will lose its helicopter medevac capability for the next year with the unit’s call-up for deployment to the Middle East.

A little more than 30 soldiers with Detachment 1, Company G, 1st Battalion, 189th Aviation Regiment said goodbye to family and friends Saturday in a ceremony at Kalaeloa.

The unit performs aeromedical evacuation operations, medical resupply, transport of medical personnel and rescue hoist operations.

The departure is the latest for Hawaii Army National Guard helicopter units and shows the duality of state and federal missions at a time when Kilauea Volcano’s lava flows made the need for helicopter mass evacuation a possibility.

In April, a deployment ceremony was held for about 80 citizen soldiers with B Company of the 1st Battalion, 171st Aviation Regiment ahead of duty in Afghanistan with all 12 of the unit’s big twin-rotor CH-47 Chinooks.

The Marine Corps dispatched two CH-53E Super Stallions to Hilo for possible mass evacuation, but the choppers, which can carry more than 50 people, have since returned to Kaneohe Bay, said state Defense Department spokesman Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony.

“The reason why we tapped the Marines for CH-53s to be part of Joint Task Force 5-0 on the Big Island is because we didn’t have any CH-47s available,” Anthony said. “Fortunately, we had other military assets in theater.”

The National Guard had said the air evacuation of lower Puna could be accomplished in four hours.

Fissure 8 is still pumping out tons of lava into Kapoho Bay, but Anthony said “there are no more residential areas threatened beyond what has already been threatened.”

Even though the medevac unit is deploying to an undisclosed location in the Middle East, its three Black Hawk helicopters are staying, because the unit will use other helicopters already in the theater, Anthony said.

That means the Black Hawks can be used for transport, but not a medical mission, he said. The National Guard still has about 10 other Black Hawks that can also be utilized, while the active-duty Army also has helicopters on Hawaii island, Anthony said.

The big Marine Corps CH-53s are still available if needed, but “the situation doesn’t seem to call for it at this time,” he said.

Over the next year about 1,000 Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers will be heading out on deployments to the Middle East and Europe.