Before the war in Iraq broke out, National Guard soldiers with Redmond-based G Troop, 82nd Cavalry, were trained to scout out the enemy, and they reported to a headquarters troop based at the Bend Armory.

Since coming home from a yearlong deployment in Iraq, the Oregon Army National Guard unit’s name has changed. The soldiers’ role is now to fight in direct combat. And the guardsmen have new bosses at the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry, in La Grande.

The changes are the result of a nationwide military reorganization that the U.S. Army and the Army National Guard are undergoing to create more efficient, mobile forces that can fight the guerrilla wars of the 21st century.

Akin to a corporate restructuring, the reorganization has opened up more National Guard opportunities and expanded the organization’s presence in Central Oregon, local National Guard officials say.

The trickle-down effect for National Guard units in Central Oregon is that there is a greater variety of positions to choose from, more room for advancement and better opportunities for women to serve, they said.

Central Oregon also gained a new armory in Prineville and 149 new National Guard openings, as military officials take advantage of the population explosion in the region, local National Guard officials say.

The fortified National Guard units in Central Oregon now have more manpower to respond to local and state disasters and for overseas missions.

”Our jobs are essentially the same. We’re just enhanced and bigger,” said Lt. Col. Eric Bush, the commander of the 1st squadron, 82nd Cavalry, based at the Bend Armory. ”We will be much more robust.”

Capt. Aaron DeCelle, who is the operations officer for 1-82nd Cavalry, said that while the Army is in reorganization mode, the local National Guard units shouldn’t be eligible for deployment again until 2011.

Changes on the ground

Before the reorganization, National Guard soldiers in Central Oregon could choose to do basic duties like being a cook, mechanic or a truck driver, said Sgt. Jeff Wilcox, a recruiter for the National Guard in Bend.

Now, the Central Oregon units are offering more skilled and technical positions, allowing people to do everything from medic to radio repair work, Wilcox said.

Women also have a better shot at finding a National Guard position in Central Oregon because two forward support companies have been added, Wilcox said. In the National Guard, women can only serve in forward support companies, which usually include administrative or transportation positions.

Central Oregon also has more National Guard openings in general, as the number of slots jumped up from 299 to 448, said Capt. DeCelle.

Wilcox said the new positions better reflect the skills that people use in their civilian jobs. That gives him more leverage to match soldiers – particularly new recruits – to the jobs they want to do or already know how to do. And there is more opportunity for progression, he said.

The National Guard will train a person from scratch for whatever duty they choose, or people can take a position that correlates with the work they do in the civilian world.

Wilcox also has better cash bonuses and educational incentives to offer new recruits.

Bush, the 1-82nd Cavalry commander who is also the Prineville police chief, said the military is trying to capitalize on the highly skilled labor force in Central Oregon and offer more sought-after technical jobs.

But the reorganization has meant upheavals for many current National Guard soldiers, like those who had been in G Troop. The National Guard has pared down G Troop’s unit, and changed what they do and what equipment they use.

Despite the changes, Bush said there should be minimal effects for Central Oregon Guard soldiers.

The Guard members had the chance of staying with their reconfigured units or transferring to another one, he said. The National Guard also tried to keep soldiers in similar positions, even if their units or missions changed, he said.

”They got a different boss but it doesn’t change where they are doing the training,” Bush said.

Better fighting power

The aim of the nationwide reshuffling is to create more ”modular” units that can deploy to missions as a whole – intact and completely self-sufficient, Bush said.

Before the reorganization, the National Guard and the Army often had to patch together different support elements to create a wartime unit.

”Before, we had to build a force ad hoc to fit the mission we were fighting,” Bush said.

For instance, when G Troop deployed to Iraq, they ended up under a different chain of command because their headquarters troop stayed behind in Bend, Bush said.

While in Iraq, G Troop also took on a combat role, helping out with stability and support rather than doing battlefield reconnaissance, Bush said.

Because of the reorganization, entire units should now be able to deploy together, from the command team to the support elements.

”We’re going to have a significantly greater ability to support ourselves,” Bush said.

The reorganization has also created two battalion level organizations with units in Central Oregon, the 1st squadron, 82nd Cavalry, and the 3rd Battalion, 116th Cavalry.

DeCelle said the reorganization will help the National Guard be better aligned with the Army.

The reorganization is also a response to the new kind of warfare that troops are facing.

With the exception of the Vietnam War, most of the wars that the U.S. has fought in the past century had a clearly defined battle line with American forces on one side and the enemy on the other, Bush said.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, the enemy is all around and threats linger anywhere, according to Bush.

”The enemy could be anywhere. There is no clearly defined front line,” Bush said.

Bush said the reorganization is streamlining the units to fit these new kinds of missions.

”The idea is to train how you fight. If we train as a unit we want to be able to fight as a unit,” Bush said.