SPECIAL TO THE PVT Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Mendoza, above, and Sgt. Tyrone Baird, below, poses in their fatigues at Camp Roberts. The emblem of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment is prominent on Baird's left arm. Advertisement

A handful of Pahrump residents will be headed to Afghanistan soon, part of a deployment of 450 Nevada Army National Guardsmen of the 1st Squadron, 221st Cavalry.

"It's a little unusual to have one of our battalion-sized units to get called up en masse. This unit has been called up before in the global war on terrorism, but only once have they gone overseas and that was a small section of the unit, not the whole unit," said April Conway, spokesman for the Nevada National Guard.

"It's important to keep the unit's integrity intact when you deploy because these are people who have known each other for years and years, and they know each others strengths and weaknesses as they go into a danger situation," she said.

The squadron is a "build-out" unit aligned with the 11th Armored Cavalry "Blackhorse" Regiment, based at Fort Irwin, Calif.

The mission of the Nevada National Guard will change from support of the Bradley fighting vehicle to convoy security and protecting provincial reconstruction teams.

Sgt. Tyrone Baird, a squadron master gunner, won't even be around for the mobilization ceremony at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Las Vegas April 17. He flies out Monday to Camp Atterbury, Ind.

As a master trainer, Baird has been on the road a lot since his callup last fall.

It started along with many of the others at Camp Roberts, Calif., in January. Baird said the troops learned basic training in weapons, infantry movement, combat tactics, a combat lifesaver course and practiced using a much heavier Humvee for the narrow, mountainous, Afghan roads.

From there it was off to Tucson, Ariz., for practice using the Javelin, a shoulder-launched missile system that uses an infrared system to lock on a target. Finally he took a Raven operator's course, learning how to employ an unmanned surveillance aircraft.

"Before we were a reconaiisance squadron and now we transition to a Sec 4, or security force mission. Our squadron will be divided up into 12 PR teams, which are province reconstruction teams," Baird said.

The squadron will provide security for State Department employees and others who will help rebuilding the provinces, he said.

Baird, 41, a full-time Guardsman, has already been to Iraq twice and Saudi Arabia once during his seven years with the Guard. Before that he served 10 years active duty with the U.S. Air Force.

That prior deployment to the Mideast helps him prepare for this move. In fact he will be working up front to help other Guardsmen plan for their deployment.

"They're going to be a little nervous, just confused what's exactly going on," Baird said. "I'd be an idiot to say I wasn't nervous. It is a combat zone regardless of what anybody says."

The goal will be to eventually turn over security to Afghan soldiers, then pull the majority of the U.S. troops out.

Baird predicted ultimately, "There will be (U.S.) troops there in a training assistance status. We've been there eight years, it will take that long to get out of there."

Baird said he has two children.

"The first time it really didn't bother them too bad. This time it's really bothering my youngest son, he's 13. It's really starting to bother him for some reason," Baird said.

Master Sgt. Richard Deutsch and his brother, Ian Deutsch, will both be deploying to Afghanistan. Both worked for the Nye County Sheriff's Office, Richard just started work in August as a detention officer before being called up. Ian had worked with the sheriff's department K-9 unit for five years.

Richard Deutsch, 37, a guardsman for 19 years, was deployed to Iraq from July 2006 to July 2007. In Iraq he was already trained as part of a security forces battalion.

"It's a little better, having an understanding what goes on, what things need to be done. I think the experience is going to help with this," he said. "The mission's definitely based on terrain and requirements. You're guarding vehicles and military assets going into the country and from one post to another. You're going out with construction teams and you're providing security for them while they rebuild a country.

"The mission never changes behind a gun, but the mission changes regarding where you're going and how you're doing it."

The Guardsmen will spend nine months in Afghanistan itself.

Asked his feelings, Richard Deutsch said, "I would say nervous, yes, but I'm a believer you have to mentally divorce yourself. You have to be prepared, you can't expect to be nervous. But whatever happens happens."

His brother Ian Deutsch, 26, has been in the guard nine years but has never been overseas.

"I've done a little bit of training. I did one through Progressive Force Concepts that was some very good training. It was probably some of the best training I've been through," Ian Deutsch said.

He took a marksman course for pre-sniper training at Camp Roberts, shooting at targets more than 670 yards away.

"It goes a lot in hand together with the sheriff's office. It definitely helped me out, like when we do active shooters or a lot of building searches," Ian Deutsch said.

When it comes to his wife and two children in Pahrump, Ian said bluntly, "They hate it. They don't want to see me leave."

"I explained it pretty good to my daughter. By me going over there, it allows other fathers to come here to see their daughters," Ian Deutsch said of his 5-year-old. "She understands it as much as she can. I don't think she understands the time frame I'll be gone."

When it comes to the Nye County Sheriff's Department, Richard Deutsch said, "They've been very helpful and very cooperative to my brother and I. Everything I needed, they've been right there."

Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Mendoza is another full-time guardsman, having worked with the Nevada Counterdrug Task Force locally.

Asked what his wife and two children think about his first deployment into a war zone overseas, Mendoza said. "They're supportive and know that this is what we need to do."

Does he have any butterflies himself about going to Afghanistan?

"Not yet. Maybe when they start shooting at me I'll get a little nervous," Mendoza said.

Mendoza, who has been in the guard for nine years, said he's undergoing much of the same training as the others.

"I'm just doing what everyone else is doing. We're getting sent over to Afghanistan in July. We'll just go over there, do our piece. We're doing a little extra training to get used to getting away from the armor and get into more of the security piece," he said.

Conway said the Nevada National Guard will be augmented with guard members from places like Guam and Arizona to form the equivalent of a battalion. "We're a pretty tight group," Ian Deutsch said. "We're feeling pretty good about it."