SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Pfc. Kristina Campos, a 19-year-old McKinley High graduate who joined the Hawai'i Army National Guard about a year ago, will be in Kuwait for approximately the next nine months.

Sgt. Allen Kapua'ala, 28, an Army Reservist, is heading to Iraq on his first combat deployment.

Sgt. Jason Guerrero, 32, will be returning to Iraq to support Special Forces after deploying to the war zone for a year in 2004 with the 411th Engineer Battalion.

A range of military experience — and a lot of first-combat-tour excitement — was behind the identical Army camouflage uniforms worn by 26 deploying citizen soldiers who stood at attention yesterday at Sills Field and then were draped with lei by family and friends.

The sendoff was for 14 National Guard soldiers with the 12th Personnel Service Detachment, heading to Kuwait, and 12 soldiers with the Army Reserve's 428th Combat Support Platoon, who are deploying to Iraq.

Kapua'ala, who lives in Kapolei and works at the Pearl Harbor Shipyard, said he was "excited and stoked" to go to Iraq.

"See something different," he said. "See what I'm really made of."

The 428th will provide maintenance for tracked and wheeled vehicles, and maintenance teams of two to four soldiers will support Special Forces units, repairing and recovering damaged vehicles.

"We know how each other works (in Hawai'i), but now will be the true test," Kapua'ala said.

A succession of small deployments has come for Hawai'i National Guard and Reserve soldiers since 2,200 citizen soldiers deployed to Iraq and Kuwait for a year with the 29th Brigade Combat Team in 2005.

The combat team as a whole must be prepared for a return to combat in 2010, but being in the rotation does not automatically mean the unit will get that call, officials have said.

Fifteen National Guard soldiers with the 12th Personnel Service Detachment left about two weeks ago for Iraq. A casualty liaison team will ensure that information on Americans injured or killed is correct, and another team will work on redeployment, rest and recuperation, and return-to-duty issues.

Campos, from 'Ewa Beach, joined the Guard in honor of her grandfather, who was too old to sign up for the U.S. military when he came from the Philippines.

"I joined for my grandfather, to make him proud," Campos said. He died a couple of months before she graduated from McKinley.

Her husband, Spc. Kriston Campos, is an Army Reservist with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry, and is now in the Philippines. She'll be at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait.

"It's hard when you see everyone else's husband here," she said, trying to fight back a sudden rush of tears that replaced her smile.

Col. Gary Hara, chief of staff for the Hawai'i Army National Guard, told the soldiers standing at attention that "the job will be difficult because of the harsh environment — but is extremely important for the units that you will support."

Spc. Charisse Johnson, 23, from Kailua, is going to Kuwait on her first combat deployment.

"I'm excited to go because of the experience and knowledge I'll gain," Johnson said. But she also has a 4-year-old daughter, Jaida.

A new federal policy limits Guard and Reserve mobilizations to about a year, and the clock started ticking for Johnson and other soldiers in June. That means about nine months of overseas duty.

"Of course it's going to be hard, but I've got to focus on the mission," Johnson said.

Her sister, Sgt. Brianna Young, 25, was in Afghanistan in 2005.

"I'm proud of what she's doing, but it's going to be a long year without her," Brianna Young said.

Five-year-old Zachary Guerrero alternated hanging onto the left and right arm of his dad, Sgt. Jason Guerrero.

Wife Claire, daughters Summer, 11, and Kaitlyn, 7, and several other family members were there yesterday for the sendoff.

Guerrero, who works as a mechanic for the Army, was mobilized for 15 months when he went to Baghdad with the 411th Engineers in 2004. He's waiting to see if the new year-long mobilization policy holds up.

"I'm not saying anything until I get back," he said.

His wife, Claire, said "I don't want him to go at all, but it's shorter, so I feel better."

Guerrero said he wants to make 20 years in the Army. He's got 12 now.

He said his kids have "taken it pretty good."

"There were some nights that they asked me again, 'Where are you going?' and got those teary eyes. (But) they know where I'm going."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.