GETTING READY -- California National Guard soldiers line up at a vintage World War II processing station at Camp Roberts to go through family and financial planning and receive shots in preparation for a possible war with Iraq. DENNIS ANDERSON /Valley Press

National Guard prepares for next war

By DENNIS ANDERSON
Valley Press Editor

During World War II, this 40,000-acre base between Los Angeles and San Francisco, trained about a half million infantrymen and artillery troops.

Now, in the oak-dotted rolling green hills, the sprawling base that straddles the San Luis Obispo -Monterey county line is playing host to one of its biggest mobilization efforts since the Korean War.

Some of the National Guard and Reserve units are preparing for an order that could send them to the Middle East for a potential war to disarm Iraq. Others are processing as if they must be ready to go at a moment's notice. Thousands of Guard and Reserve troops are continuously processing through Roberts.

"People know what this means," said Capt. Eric George of Palmdale. "They are lighthearted and casual about it, and they are cheerful, but they know this is serious stuff. They know they could be called to go."

The troops range from those who are new to a razor to silver-haired veterans of the Vietnam era. At any day, any of them can be called to go to what they call "The Sandbox," that part of the world where 300,000 American and Allied troops are gathering for possible war with the regime of Saddam Hussein.

"I've wanted to be in the Army since I was 5 years old," said Spc. 4th Class Amanda Fisher of Roseville. "I joined when I was 17 years old, before I got out of high school. I love this. My uncles were in the Marine Corps, and I always wanted to do something like this."

Fisher, 20, has a big job, getting heavy equipment transporter trucks ready for shipment overseas. The trucks, operated by National Guard troops from Riverside, San Bernardino and the Antelope Valley communities of Palmdale and Lancaster, weigh more than 7 tons and have more than 40 big hard-rubber tires, "plus spares," said Staff Sgt. Tom Murotake, a Guard spokesman.

The big "HET" monster trucks are used to haul M-1 Abrams tanks to the place where you point them. Those trucks will be moved, first by rail, to a place where they will be ready if needed in a fresh version of Desert Storm.

Camp Roberts, named for Cpl. Harold W. Roberts who won the Medal of Honor in World War I, is a "Twilight Zone" fusion of past and present armies. Nicely reconditioned barracks are clean and habitable, but hark back to the bygone eras of World War II and the Korean War. Forty troops to a wooden barrack, with common latrines and showers, with a heavy odor of disinfectant.

The truth is that Camp Roberts is your father's Army base, and your grandfather's. The only item missing from past wars are the red "butt cans" for smushing out cigarettes.

"There's no more smoking in the barracks," said George, who commands the Bravo Company "Bulldogs" of the 1st Battalion, 185th Armored Division.

The National Guard tankers spent the past four days in the World War II barracks, passing through stations to get shots, to get family papers and plans finalized and to make financial arrangements in case of activation to the regular Army. It is a scene that has played out in these California coastal hills since the camp trained cannoneers to batter the Third Reich into submission and sent California's famed 40th Infantry Division to finish the Korean War at Pork Chop Hill and Heartbreak Ridge.

"This place is old Army," said George, whose day job is as an elementary school teacher in Lancaster.

The Camp Roberts consolidated mess hall still has camouflage-clad mess hall troops ladling out the taters and chipped beef on toast in an era when most bases have gone to civilian food service staff. But the "green machine" troops are cheerful and generous with the pot roast and veggies.

The camp features an armored vehicle assortment that is a museum like the Armor Museum named for Gen. George S. Patton Jr. at Fort Knox, Ky. Nestled at the bottom of a little arroyo is one of the 40th Division's war trophies from Korea, a T-34 "Stalin" tank that the North Koreans rolled south until they were thrown back after the Pusan breakout.

"I talk with these young men here, and the family men, and all our troops, and I get a little misty," George said. "They know exactly why they are here. They are making sacrifices. Some of them are losing income, but they know what this is about. This, whether it is homeland security or whether it is having to go overseas, is about protecting their wives, their husbands, their children, their families, their homes."

Some enjoy making an informal recruiting pitch about their particular branches of service. First Sgt. Kim Lord of Bravo Company likes to talk tanks and armor.

"You want to go armor," he said. "You want to ride high in a tank, not to walk, walk, walk on the ground. Rangers are fine, but I'm going to be rolling up on that hill while they are walking down in that valley. Armor is for breaking through and making a big mess. Everyone else supports armor."

That is the role of the M-1 Abrams tanks, named for Gen. Creighton Abrams, one of Patton's commanders in Europe.

Not all the Guard troops are Army. Air National Guard aids the Air Force, and many "prior service" veterans come from the Marine Corps.

Three "prior service" Marines huddled together, wearing National Guard greens, but swapping "sea stories" about the Corps.

"I guess you could call us a Marine detachment in the Guard," said Sgt. Ralph Beckmann of Fresno. "Marines are here to train the others," he said, laughing.

Beckmann was joined by Spcs. 4th Class James Horton of Nice in Lake County and Martin Toomey of Santa Rosa.

While waiting for shots, the trio barked out an "Oorah!" Marine-style chorus of the kind that "Gunny" R. Lee Ermey of Palmdale made famous as the drill instructor in "Full Metal Jacket."

Spc. 4th Class Robert Tinkler of Lake County interjected, "I guess I'm a wannabe Marine, but I'm glad I'm in the Guard."

In earlier conflicts, the 40th Divisionmoved as a unit. But more recent conflicts have required smaller units that can provide specialists for such exotic services as water purification or a variety of military intelligence endeavors.

"During Desert Storm, they had an urgent and hasty need for military police who are specialists in handling prisoners of war," Murotake said. "They weren't expecting the Iraqi army to all surrender at the same time. But there they were, surrendering to aircraft, surrendering to aerial drones, surrendering to one guy with a 9mm pistol, surrendering to helicopters. They needed those MPs fast, because they were swamped with people surrendering."

© 2010 Antelope Valley Press, Palmdale, California (661) 273-2700