PORTLAND (AP) – Many of the Maine National Guard soldiers headed to Arizona will be familiar with the desert landscape. At least half of the 300 soldiers already served in Iraq. When they ship out this month, they’ll be working in dusty places such as San Miguel, Ariz., where they will erect roads and street lights for border patrols.

“It’s been only about two years since we got back from Iraq,” said Maj. Dwaine Drummond. “I don’t think the terrain will look that strange.”

President Bush’s plan to use National Guard units for Operation Jump Start initially raised red flags because the Guard was stretched thin by deployments for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Furthermore, Maine was beset by flooding at the time.

After initially expressing skepticism, Gov. John Baldacci has consulted with the leaders of the Maine National Guard, and now says he supports the plan to send the soldiers to the border, spokesman David Farmer said.

About 150 guardsmen from Company A of the 133rd Engineer Battalion will leave March 31 and return on April 20. Another 150 guardsmen, from Company C of the 133rd, will leave April 17 and return May 5. Additional soldiers from the 133rd and from the 185th Engineer Support Company will participate, officials said.

Drummond, who was stationed in Mosul, Iraq, when a suicide bomber blew up a mess hall more than two years ago, said he is looking forward to helping to secure the southern border and to keep out drug traffickers.

“We won’t have weapons and no one will be shooting at us, hopefully,” Drummond said. “It’ll definitely be lower-key than over in the other desert – the desert across the ocean.”

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