The Hawai'i Army National Guard does not appear to be headed back to Iraq any sooner than expected as part of a troop surge announced by President Bush this week, and it likely will be five years before another deployment is announced.

"We have no indication that we would be tapped before five years," said Maj. Chuck Anthony, spokesman for the Hawai'i National Guard. "But some states will have to be remobilized sooner than five years. The presumption is that those would be the ones that were sent in first in 2004."

New mobilization policies announced yesterday by U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will mean that some Guard units in some states will get the call, however.

The most significant change is abandoning the time a Guard soldier can be required to serve on active duty.

Until now, the Pentagon's policy on the Guard and Reserve was that members' cumulative time on active duty for the Iraq or Afghan wars could not exceed 24 months. That limit is now lifted; but a limit remains on the length of any single mobilization, which may not exceed 24 consecutive months, Gen. Peter Pace said. In other words, a Guard soldier could be mobilized for a 24-month stretch in Iraq or Afghanistan, then demobilized and allowed to return to civilian life, only to be mobilized a second time for as much as an additional 24 months. In practice, officials said, the Pentagon intends to limit future mobilizations to 12 months.

Members of Guard combat brigades that have served in Iraq in recent years spent 18 months on active duty — about six months in pre-deployment training in the United States, followed by about 12 months in Iraq. Under the old policy, they could not be sent back to Iraq because their cumulative active duty would exceed 24 months. Now that limit has been lifted, giving the Pentagon more flexibility.

POLICY MORE SPECIFIC

Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, adjutant general and director of state civil defense, said at a news conference yesterday he likes the secretary's new policy because it offers a "precise definition."

"It's strictly one year (of deployment) and five years of non-deployment back in the States to train and to serve the governor and state in case of disasters," Lee said. "What I like about the new policy ... is that units that are asked to stay longer than 12 months because of contingencies like what is happening right now (in Iraq) or called up more frequently than (once) in five years, they will determine a special compensation package (for them)."

No mass deployment is planned for Hawai'i but there are some movements, Lee said. For example, 60 Hawai'i soldiers will leave next week to augment a brigade of the Arizona National Guard that is deploying to Afghanistan for a year to train Afghan soldiers, Lee said.

Lee also is expecting notification this summer of deployment of "Charlie Company" of the 1st Battalion 207 Aviation Regiment, which is a Black Hawk helicopter unit currently flying medevac missions on O'ahu. Twenty-five soldiers assigned to the 12th Personnel Services Detachment have been placed on alert for deployment to Kuwait.

All will fall under the new one-year guidelines, Lee said.

The new guidelines also will allow Lee to grant waivers, especially to soldiers who volunteered and have recently returned from deployment.

EXTRA PAY, WAIVERS

Gates' new policies are designed to help the military supply the additional 21,500 troops Bush wants to send to Iraq. Gates announced several changes: