DESTINATION AFGHANISTAN HELICOPTER UNIT, MARINES READY TO LEAVE FOR TOUR OF DUTY; SISTER UNIT HEADING FOR IRAQ ASSIGNMENT.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - Marines loaded helicopters into Air Force cargo planes Saturday in preparation for deployment to Afghanistan, where they will spend six to eight months hauling troops, supplies and equipment.

The approximately 150 men and women of Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 769 began leaving Edwards - their base for the last five years - on Thursday with their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters and are expected all to be gone by Tuesday.

``Everybody's excited to be part of the operation,'' said a 32-year-old helicopter crew chief, a Fullerton computer graphics worker who was called to active duty in January 2002. ``Finally we're not sitting on the bench anymore.''

While the squadron is bound for Afghanistan, the squadron's sister unit is expected to start operations next week in Iraq. Medium Marine Helicopter Squadron 764 sent its Chinook helicopters by ship from San Diego last month to Kuwait, where the Marines met them and reassembled them.

Both squadrons are replacing helicopter units that are returning to the United States after serving overseas for months.

For many Marines, this is their first duty overseas.

``It's going to be something different,'' said helicopter mechanic Sgt. Eric Rodriguez, an Arizonan who now lives in Lancaster and has been stationed at Edwards the last four years.

The deployment is also tough on families.

``It's a whole lot easier when I was there, when I was the one gone,'' said Stephen Luchner, whose 19-year-old son Nathaniel is leaving with the unit. ``I knew everything was OK. Being on the other end is different; it's pretty tough.''

Luchner, 47, started in the Army as an enlisted Chinook helicopter mechanic and served in the Persian Gulf war. He is due to retire in June as a lieutenant colonel.

Another son, Anthony, 22, is on his second tour in Iraq with a Marine attack helicopter unit.

The Luchner family were among dozens of Marine relatives who have been at Edwards since Thursday waiting for loved ones to depart. On Saturday, relatives sat talking in chairs set in the shade of a hangar or took photographs as the helicopters were loaded.

Dozens of other relatives - mainly wives and children of Marines in the first squadron that left - gathered Saturday at an Edwards children's play area and made crafts and messages to send to them. Those gatherings are planned monthly while the deployment lasts, Lt. Col. Drew Crane said.

Mainly it's the younger Marines' families who come to watch the departure. The older Marines usually say their goodbyes the night before, said Gunnery Sgt. John Ellis.

``I've been deployed so many times,'' Ellis, who has been in the Marines 18 years. ``This is what you do - you wait.''

Afghanistan, where the Marines will be serving, remains a war-torn nation, with attacks by Taliban remnants as well as other armed groups.

The U.S. military has begun a new operation in Afghanistan that is designed to destroy al-Qaida and Taliban infrastructure. Meanwhile, U.S. forces are pressing their search for Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

The Marines' helicopters are likely to get shot at, Crane said. They carry machine guns for defense and devices for countering anti-aircraft missiles.

Emblazoned on their noses with a cartoon image of a grinning wild boar wearing sunglasses and a bandanna reading ``Roadhogs'' - for the unit's radio call sign - the squadron's helicopters can lift up to 16 tons of cargo.

That's enough to lift a Humvee or a howitzer slung beneath them.

They're bringing six helicopters to Iraq, with five others going on loan to another Marine unit.

Besides the likelihood in combat, flying in Afghanistan contains the added challenge of operations of its mountains. Helicopters have less lift at high altitude.

The Edwards Marines routinely train at high altitude in the Sierra Nevada at a Marine cold-weather training base near Bridgeport.

Photos of Marines in Iraq with Medium Marine Helicopter Squadron 764 are being posted on a Web site by Navy corpsman Sean Dustman, a medic with the union. The Web site is www.dustmans.fotopages.com.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Lance Cpl. Andre Blanc of San Mateo, Calif., left, and Lance Cpl. Nathaniel Luchner of Huntsville, Ala., wave flags at Edwards Air Force Base before departing to Afghanistan.

(2 -- color) Cpl. Tim Reed of Pennsylvania loads gear as the Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 769 prepares to leave.

(3 -- color) A helicopter is loaded into a C-17 cargo plane at Edwards Air Force Base on Saturday.

(4) The Heavy Marine Helicopter Squadron 769 gets ready to head to Afghanistan. The deployment is expected to be six to eight months.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer