LEWISTON – The Maine Army National Guard is creating a new group of soldiers to handle one of Iraq’s most dangerous threats: the roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices.

The unit will begin its work on Saturday in Norway.

Eventually, the 251st Engineer (Sapper) Company will have about 100 soldiers, but when Capt. Donald Lachapelle takes command of the unit, it will have about 55 men and women. Nearly half of the soldiers – known as “sappers” in Army parlance – will be new to the Guard and the uniform. Some will still be completing their training.

All will have distinguished themselves to become sappers, Lachapelle said.

“Our mission is going out and finding explosives,” he said. “Everyone goes out and tries to avoid them.”

The company will become part of the 133rd Engineer Battalion, which has soldiers in several armories including Norway and Lewiston. Pentagon leaders have targeted the battalion for deployment to the Middle East in early 2010. However, since the sappers are so new, they would likely stay behind when the battalion goes.

For now, their mission is to get trained.

Lachapelle, who lives in Norridgewock, wants his people to get a baseline of knowledge on finding and handling bombs, making roads safe for friendly forces and slowing the enemy.

The specialty goes back hundreds of years. The term “sapper” is traced back to the French word “sapeur,” said Capt. Shannon Cotta, spokesman for the Maine guard. Historically, sappers were military engineers who specialized in breaching and constructing fortifications.

In Iraq, the work uses lots of high-tech gear including robots with boom arms to diffuse or safely explode the enemy’s ordnance, said Lachapelle, who has completed deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We make it so that forces can move along,” he said.

As a backup, the sappers are also trained as light infantry soldiers.

Lachapelle is a graduate of the Army’s grueling four-week school for sapper officers, which includes deprivation of food and sleep.

“You go on mission after mission, carrying heavy loads,” Lachapelle said. The training is meant to test a soldier’s ability to succeed under extraordinary stress.

“It does take a certain mentality,” he said.

What: “Sapper” company activation ceremony

When: 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 1

Where: Maine National Guard Armory, 17 Elm St., Norway