The first details about where Schofield Barracks soldiers will be operating in Iraq and what they'll be doing are emerging as the first of 7,000 to 8,000 soldiers hit the ground in the state's biggest deployment to the country.

Military officials said among the northern Iraq cities to where Hawai'i-based soldiers will be deployed are Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the oil-producing city of Kirkuk and the Sunni enclave of Hawija about 30 miles to the southwest.

Continuing to train Iraqi security forces and improvement in oil and electricity production will be key tasks for Task Force Lightning in the oil-rich north.

The 45th Sustainment Brigade, which started leaving for Iraq on July 7, is one of the first Schofield units to begin its Iraq mission. The brigade is based out of the Qayyarah West airfield, or "Q-West," south of Mosul.

The approximately 500 logistics soldiers are either finishing or have finished side-by-side training with departing counterparts, officials said.

The Schofield soldiers are arriving in the north at a time when more U.S. forces have been moved into Baghdad to help quell rampant sectarian violence that some say has reached the point of civil war.

The deployment to a comparatively calmer region of Iraq is being taken as a small measure of reassurance.

"The situation isn't as volatile in the area he's going. I actually feel a little more secure," said Jennifer James, whose husband, Sgt. Michael James, left on Sunday.

Michael James took part in fighting in Sadr City in Baghdad in April of 2004 with the 1st Cavalry Division, Jennifer James said. That combat experience will help him on this latest deployment, she said.

"I feel very confident this time," she said.

Julie Eberhardt's husband, Maj. Pete Eberhardt, will be in Iraq with a Black Hawk helicopter unit that had provided emergency medical airlift on O'ahu before it had to deploy.

ALREADY TRAINING

Although there was trepidation leading up to the yearlong deployment, she said she's anxious for the 25th Division "to begin their mission and do the great things that they have trained so hard to do."

It's the start of real worry, she said, but to be a spouse on the homefront "you just have to focus on the more positive side of things."

"You focus on the confidence you have in them, (and) you focus on the families and children that you are taking care of here at home," she said.

Maj. Gen. Benjamin R. Mixon, who commands the Tropic Lightning division in Hawai'i, will take over Multinational Division North from Maj. Gen. Thomas Turner II and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), which assumed responsibility for the region Nov. 1.

An official transfer of authority in the Tikrit area — where hundreds of Hawai'i troops also will be based — is expected in September.

The Pennsylvania-sized region of northern Iraq extends north of Baghdad to the border with Iran in the east, Turkey in the north and Syria in the west, and has a population of 10.2 million.

With multiple flights leaving last night for Kuwait — and then final training in the desert before a flight into Iraq — more than 90 percent of the Schofield contingent has departed for the Middle East.

"We've got folks already in Multinational Division North doing some coordination with the 101st and initial transitions," said Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly, a Schofield spokesman who's also deploying.

FEWER FORCES NEEDED

Still evolving is the makeup of Mixon's force, which is expected to include fewer troops than the previous task force, in part as regions of northern Iraq continue to be turned over to Iraqi security forces.

Mixon initially was expected to be in charge of five brigade combat teams — including several from outside Hawai'i — but now is down to three.

A Stryker brigade out of Alaska operating in Mosul in the north was expected to head home and be replaced by another Stryker armored vehicle unit out of Fort Lewis, Wash.

However, the Alaska-based unit has been redirected to Baghdad and its deployment has been extended.

Donnelly said military planners can adjust for the troop changes that are taking place in the country on relatively short notice.

"Although it does look like a busy chess game, our planners ... are very well versed in multiple courses of action," he said.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division have added heavy armor to more than 700 Humvees since January, and when their tour ends, 25th Infantry soldiers will get the vehicles, the Pentagon reported.

FAMILIAR TERRITORY

For the 25th Infantry Division, history is repeating itself on this deployment.

Schofield's 2nd Brigade had its headquarters in Kirkuk in 2004, and the 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry "Wolfhounds" patrolled Hawija. On this deployment, the 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Wolfhounds will be in the Hawija area.

The Schofield soldiers arriving in Iraq join other Hawai'i-based troops who have been there for some time.

Nearly 500 soldiers with the 84th Engineer Battalion out of Schofield Barracks deployed to Iraq late in 2005 on a yearlong deployment and are based out of Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

About 1,000 Marines with the 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment at Kane'ohe Bay, meanwhile, are on a seven-month deployment to western Iraq.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.