Pat Dollard | Young Americans

A battle far from Iraq, but just as hot

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) — Their weapon in Iraq was a rifle.

In California, it’s a tool with a line of shark-like teeth.

National Guardsman Robert Rosbia takes a break from the sweaty, grimy job of slicing through thick foliage in the northern California woods.

“Here, we’re protecting lives,” the Iraq veteran said. “But this time I am doing it with this instead of a .50-caliber machine gun.”

Rosbia and another Iraq veteran, Mike Valdivia, are among the first of 400 National Guard troops to be deployed on the ground in California in more than three decades. Their hours are spent hacking away at the brush to create fire lines — areas cleared of vegetation — so that firefighters can make a stand with water from the ground and help from the air.

Valdivia, a father of three from Seaside, California, said the two are prepared for working in oppressive heat.

“Your body starts kicking up a lot of heat under the collar,” Valdivia said, tugging at his soaked undershirt. “In Iraq, we had temperatures of 117 degrees plus. Here, there’s a lot of physical labor like Iraq.”

A truck driver and married father of two, Rosbia said his wife is just happy he’s deployed near his San Francisco Bay area home and not in Iraq.

“She knows there isn’t somebody shooting at me and getting ready to cause me bodily harm, possibly take my life from me,” he said.

Fire and military officials said making fire breaks will be the Guard’s primary job. The Guard troops will not attack walls of flame with hoses, but instead will hack out the brush and trees, making fire lines with hand tools.

Perhaps no sergeant is better trained to lead a brush-clearing mission than Valdivia.

Some of the other Guardsmen start chanting and good naturedly teasing Valdivia. “Let’s get a shout-out to Breezy Tree.”

Valdivia trims trees for a living as owner of Breezy Tree Trimming Service.

“We’re part of California and we’re involved here with high spirits,” he said, describing the reception he and other troops have gotten from people in town. “We’ve been driving back and forth. We get lots of waves. And people we don’t even know are honking.

“We all come from different units. But we have come together as one unit. There’s lots of cohesion. It feels pretty good.”

Their new bosses with California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection praise the National Guard troops for exercising military discipline to learn quickly and carry out missions with efficiency.

The Guard’s commanding officer, Col. David Nichols, flew in on a helicopter from Sacramento to watch his troops.

“It’s hard times and it calls for extraordinary measures,” Nichols said about the fires scorching California. “These soldiers that are all out here are volunteers and citizens of California. They want to be here, they’re motivated and we’re proud of them.”

On this day, the National Guard soldiers were deployed deep in the Mendocino County forest. It is a wilderness where the cover of trees is packed so thick light filters through in scattered patches.

Guard troops are also working near Albion, in hills where it felt hot enough to bake a pie on a rock.

“Hydrate!” the California Fire captains yell to the troops.

“We’re glad to serve,” Rosbia said as drops of sweat rolled off his shaved head. “We’re willing to serve and it’s a good feeling. Morale is high. And it’s intense.”

VIDEO HERE