N.J. National Guard faces a big, earlier deployment

In one of the state's largest single deployments since World War II, about half of the New Jersey Army National Guard's 6,200 troops are expected to be mobilized for duty in Iraq or Afghanistan by early 2009, state and Guard officials said yesterday.

No definitive word has come from the Pentagon on the deployment, but state officials say they want families to know that the mobilization - originally expected in 2010 - has been moved up.

Lt. Col. James Garcia, a New Jersey Guard spokesman, said yesterday that "the leadership wants to get the word out. It [mobilization] is no longer 2010. 2010 is gone."

Gov. Corzine is expected to provide more information about the mobilization today during a Medal of Honor flag presentation and award ceremony at the Joint Force Headquarters at Fort Dix.

The call-up of Guard units in various parts of the country is part of the rotation of military units aimed at maintaining troop levels, especially in Iraq, where commanders say heightened force levels have brought more security.

"They are incredible patriots who are all going to show up and serve with honor," Corzine said yesterday of the Guard troops expected to head overseas. "The fact that we continue to have this kind of overuse of our National Guard is a mistake."

In 2005, 1,600 troops from New Jersey were sent to Iraq, and Corzine said the new deployment would involve a "substantial number that will parallel what we have already done once."

" . . . It is very harsh on the families," he said. "I think it is undermining of the basic purpose of the National Guard, which is to protect local and state elements and floods and fires and whatever problems that we can have, and reduces our ability and it strains us on equipment."

The governor of each state commands a National Guard force during domestic emergencies but must turn them over to the federal government for duty in an overseas war.

Corzine said last month that the Guard "is scheduled to deploy a 3,400-member Brigade Combat Team . . . in the near future. For the sake of them and their families, I hope there is a plan in place that maximizes their ability to complete their mission and return home safely."

The governor said yesterday that state officials have been "aware that there's been a developing deployment program in the works for a couple of months."

Some military officials said the mobilization could come as early as June. About three months of training would likely be followed by deployment overseas in September. The troops would return by June 2009.

Earlier, the time for training and health screenings was added on to 12 months a soldier served in a war zone. That meant some troops were away from their families for up to two years. But new rules require the whole mobilization to be complete in no longer than a year.

Jeff Sagnip, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. James Saxton, (R., N.J.), said yesterday the troops "are given as much advance notice as possible so can get their health in order."

"You have to get your shots, get your dental situation right and you have to pass a physical," he said. "And many of them have jobs so their employers need time to find temporary workers."

Air Force Lt. Col. Todd Vician, a Pentagon spokesman, said yesterday that no alert order or mobilization order had been officially sent to the New Jersey National Guard's 50th Brigade Combat Team.

The 50th Brigade Combat Team is likely to replace the now-deploying 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team from Oklahoma, according to some military officials. That unit's 2,400 troops today will deploy to its mobilization station at Fort Bliss, Texas, where they will undergo about 12 weeks of intense training for the mission in Iraq.

New Jersey's 50th may be trained at Fort Bliss or a half-dozen other sites, state officials said. The members of the unit may prepare to serve as "in-lieu-of's" - so-called provisional military police who would likely work in Baghdad's Green Zone.