NORWAY – During a Maine Army National Guard ceremony Saturday at the Norway Armory, 58 men from various Maine armories became combat engineers, known as “sappers” in military lingo.

Until then, the men of the 251st Sapper Co., whose average age is 20, were construction engineers with the 133rd Engineer Battalion. As members of a newly created sapper unit, they will be trained to deal with one of Iraq’s most dangerous threats: the roadside bombs known as improvised explosive devices.

The company, which will be bolstered by 42 more men, will serve under the 133rd and will undergo extensive and intense training in demolitions and light infantry before being deployed overseas.

“This gives the battalion youthful integration of new soldiers and it will give us expertise in the state of Maine. We don’t currently have a demolition unit,” said 133rd Engineer Battalion Lt. Col. Dwaine Drummond.

The 251st is one of only two units in Maine that are all men. That’s due to their secondary mission as forward-fighting infantry units in close-combat operations, according to 251st First Sgt. Andrew Pattle of Harrison. The other all-male unit is Bravo Company 3 of the 172nd Infantry of Brewer.

About 75 percent of Saturday’s inductees have served in Afghanistan or Iraq, according to their new commander, Capt. Donald Lachapelle of Norridgewock, a seasoned Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.

The rest are new recruits who must first undergo basic training before rejoining the unit for four years of specialized training.

Lachapelle is a graduate of the Army Rangers’ grueling four-week school for sapper officers, which includes deprivation of food and sleep and has a success rate of less than 50 percent.

In addition to clearing major supply routes of IEDs, the 251st Sapper Co. must also prevent or slow enemy forces from moving through an area by creating obstacles, Drummond said.

Stateside, the company will provide trained chain saw operators to help with state emergencies such as ice storms and severe winds, and use large trucks to perform deep-water rescues during major flooding, Pattle said.

During the ceremony, the soldiers stood in formation on a basketball court watching Pattle and Drummond present the regiment’s covered flag to Lachapelle, who removed it from its case and returned it to the flagbearer, Spc. Robert Kenney.

An old Army tradition, the ceremony gave Lachapelle an opportunity to assess the readiness and discipline of the unit. Additionally, the opening of the guidon (flag) establishes the beginning or continuation of a unit’s history and lineage, Adjutant M. D. Mitchell of Freeport explained to the small crowd.

In a short speech that followed, Lachapelle vowed to make the Sapper Co. the best company in the Maine Army National Guard. He also promised “to train these sappers hard and to the standard, so that when that eventual call comes, they are more than prepared to execute their mission, whether here in the state or abroad.”