ST. GEORGE — Nearly 500 members of the Utah National Guard have received mobilization orders for Iraq.

Fifty officers of the Guard's 222nd Field Artillery Battalion will leave for Camp Shelby, Miss., on Jan. 4 to prepare for the arrival of the entire battalion, due to report Jan. 24.

The battalion members — who come from a geographic area spanning more than 350 miles, from Salt Lake City to Las Vegas — will be on active duty for 18 months, six months of training stateside followed by a year of duty in Iraq.

Lt. Col. Richard Miller said members of the battalion, known informally as the Triple Deuce, will receive four to five months of training and validation at the Mississippi camp.

They then will be shipped to Fort Irwin, near Barstow, Calif., in the Mojave Desert for 30 days of acclimation and final training before being shipped to Iraq for combat early next summer.

Miller will be part of the advance party of 50 officers that leaves for Mississippi just after the first of the year. He will also spend five days in Iraq during the middle of January, familiarizing himself with the mission of the unit the Utah Guard will replace.

The battalion's mission is classified military information, but Miller said the unit will fulfill a field artillery and rifle infantry role.

"They've finally made some decisions on us going," Miller said.

"It gives direction, clarification, a purpose we're going for. Nobody wants to leave their families and their situations at home. This will be a challenge for families, the community and employers. But the purpose is to support the president and the people of Iraq. I think we're going over to do some good and provide some of the freedoms we, as Americans, enjoy," he said.

Also receiving mobilization orders Friday was Enoch city Mayor Rick Bonzo, who will only be able to fulfill about half of the term he was elected to fill when former Mayor Patrick Franks resigned.

"I've trained a lot, been around a little bit," Bonzo, a 32-year veteran of the Utah National Guard, said. "To me, it's exciting. It's what you're trained for. But it's also more scary than anything. I'm not really sure what's out there. There's some excitement but a lot of apprehension."

The deployment also puts a hitch in the plans of Iron County Jail Capt. Bret Allred, who planned to run for sheriff next November.

Allred said he is trying to find out if it would be possible for him to run for the office in absentia.

"If I can, I will. If I can't, there's always the next time," Allred said.

He said he has mixed feelings about the deployment. "I've been in the Guard 17 years," he said. "I don't think anybody wants to leave their family that long (18 months) or go to war. But I've been dancing now for 17 years, and it's time to pay the fiddler."

He said his emotions are much higher than when the unit was activated for five months last year but remained stateside.

"At our last meeting, I asked the other platoon sergeant, who had been to Desert Storm, 'Are we all going to come home?' It's a serious, scary thing," he said.