CARIBOU (AP) – A Maine Army National Guard artillery unit that traces its roots to World War I is being disbanded.

The 152nd Field Artillery Battalion will be transitioning into a yet-to-be-organized engineering support company over the next year or two, said Maj. Michael Backus, spokesman for the Maine National Guard.

“The National Guard and the Army have determined that the current climate does not warrant field artillery forces,” Backus said. “They need engineering forces and other forces much more than they need artillery units.”

The Army will take back the 155 mm howitzers, which will be placed into established artillery units elsewhere.

The locations of the new engineer unit will remain where they are now in Fort Kent, Caribou, Presque Isle, Houlton and Waterville. The soldiers in the 152nd will transition their skills and their training into engineer skills and training.

The battalion, authorized for 466 soldiers, now has a complement of 182 soldiers. The new unit will have 123 soldiers.

Some members of the 152nd already have transferred to other units. Those now deployed overseas will transition when they return to Maine.

Currently, many members of the 152nd are filling the duties of security force missions. While one unit is deployed overseas, another is in training in Camp Shelby, Miss., getting ready to deploy to Iraq.

Lt. Col. Chuck McFarland, commanding officer of the 152nd, turned command over to Maj. Mike Pooler after the two-week training session. The transition from artillery to engineering unit will take a minimum of one year, possibly as long as two years, Backus said.

The 152nd Field Artillery Battalion was formed in 1922. But the battalion has a history of defending the United States dating back to World War I. In World War II, the entire battalion was mobilized. It fought in Normandy, Alsace, and Ardennes in France, and also the Rhineland.

The 152nd also served in the Gulf War and in the latest war in Iraq. In Iraq, the unit took oversight of the infamous Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, restoring order and respectability, Backus said.