‘And Now Our Country Needs Us’

A California National Guard artillery unit was scheduled to leave this morning for duty in Bosnia, where the soldiers will spend seven months supporting a United Nations peacekeeping force.

The soldiers from F Battery 144th Field Artillery will be the first California Guard unit to serve in Europe in a combat capacity since World War I. The 80-man unit operates sophisticated radar, which detects rifle, artillery, mortar and rocket bursts and directs counter-fire in seconds.

On Saturday, family members exchanged tearful goodbyes with the departing soldiers at the Armed Forces Reserve Center here. The unit is scheduled to return from active duty in June.

“We just got married last Sunday,” said Nancy Corella, seated next to her husband, 1st Lt. Jeffrey Corella, and their three children from previous marriages. The couple had to move their wedding plans from June 1998 to last week because of the sudden deployment. Despite the abrupt changes in plans, Nancy Corella added, “I know he’ll be back and we’ll have the rest of our lives together.”

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Pedro Gonzalez, 75, a World War II veteran, said he is proud of his grandson, Cpl. Robert Escajeda, but said he will worry about his safety. Gonzalez and his wife, Carmen, will live in Escajeda’s Westminster home while he is gone.

“I’m very proud of Robert and what he does. But I don’t like it. We’ve got problems with Iraq, and I hope nothing happens [with Iraq] that will force my grandson’s unit to go to the Persian Gulf. I mean, they’ll already be in that part of the world,” Gonzalez said.

Escajeda, who turned 33 Friday, said he will worry more about his 2-year-old daughter, Angelina, while he is gone. He is divorced.

“We’re going there on a peacekeeping mission, and I’ve tried to downplay the danger to my family. I will miss my daughter badly, especially with the holidays coming up. But I’m a soldier, and it’s my job,” said Escajeda, who repairs engine analyzers.

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Three of the 80 men in the unit are from Orange County. Sgt. Ronald Reed of Mission Viejo looks at the assignment “as a job that’s been given to us.”

“We’re going to go over there, do our job and come home safe and sound. We’ve trained for this, and now our country needs us,” said Reed, 41, who is married and has three adult children. In civilian life, he works in the credit department of a financing company.

The unit is one of only a handful in the United States qualified to operate the sophisticated radar. The Army used the same equipment during the Persian Gulf War to knock out Iraqi artillery positions.

“The whole process takes only seconds,” said 1st Lt. Timothy Vincent, the battery commander. “We can tell where a round is going to land and where it came from while the round is in mid-air. During the Gulf War, the Iraqis were never heard from again after they fired once at us.”

Vincent said that morale was high among his troops, even though they will land in Bosnia at the beginning of winter and the unit has never had winter training.

“We’ve been issued cold weather gear but have always trained in California,” said Vincent, an alternative-education teacher in the Santa Maria High School District. “My soldiers have a sense of duty. This is what we’ve trained for, and the men will not let the Bosnia winter stop them from their mission.”

The unit has five radar sections, but the Bosnia mission requires that the unit operate six. According to Vincent, F Battery will be joined by 13 soldiers from the Texas National Guard, who will operate the sixth unit.

Vincent’s troops will use equipment left behind by a Massachusetts National Guard battery, which will return home as soon as the Californians arrive.

Before arriving in Bosnia on Dec. 18, F Battery will undergo additional training at Ft. Benning and Ft. Stewart in Georgia.

Their arrival in Bosnia will mark the second time in 45 years that California National Guard soldiers have served overseas in a United Nations military mission. The first was in 1951, during the Korean War.

National Guard officials also have mobilized a special office to assist the families of the soldiers in Bosnia. The office, called Family Support Coordinator, will offer counseling, help spouses maneuver through the Army pay system and familiarize the soldiers’ dependents with benefits.

Two other California National Guard units were previously deployed to Hungary and Germany to fill in for Army units sent to Bosnia. F Battery is the first National Guard unit to serve in the combat area.

The unit is part of the California 40th Infantry Division (Mechanized), one of only eight National Guard divisions in the United States. The 40th Division fought in World War I, World War II, Korea and has been awarded eight battle streamers for the division flag.

Four members of the division have been awarded the Medal of Honor, one in World War II and three in the Korean War.

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Times staff writer Tina Nguyen contributed to this report.