The Department of Defense announced Dec. 16 that the soldiers will begin deployments following the holidays, although specific dates and locations are being withheld for security reasons. Although soldiers will man installation gates for the next two years, each individual soldier will only be mobilized for one year.

In a statement related to the announcement, Thomas F. Hall, assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, said DOD is simply leveraging all of its active and reserve assets in the spirit of joint operations and inter-service cooperation.

"We intend to ensure that our Guard and Reserve are assigned the right missions, fully integrated with the active component, and deployed in the right numbers required to deter adversaries and help fight and win any conflict," he said.

The Air Force and Army signed a memorandum of agreement for the security assistance while the Air Force works to build up its own security forces.

According to the memorandum, the Army will augment force protection at Air Force installations, most of which are in the United States, for up to two years while the Air Force phases in permanent solutions.

The mobilization, which is authorized under Title 10, will affect between 8,000 and 10,000 soldiers. According to defense officials, mobilization will be gradual and the number of soldiers securing air bases may vary. As mobilization, transition and demobilization occur in the upcoming months mobilization figures for both services will fluctuate.

Defense officials emphasized the effort should not be perceived as the Army "bailing out" the Air Force. Rather, it is an example of the services working together in a spirit of cooperation, to ensure fairness and an equitable distribution on the duration, extent and assigned mission of the armed forces.

While not all the mobilized soldiers hold the military police Military Occupation Code, the basic training that each of these soldiers receives coupled with their mobilization training qualifies them for the duties they will be assigned, according to officials.

While the Army assists with air base security, the Air Force will continue its effort to beef up its security forces. The options the Air Force plans to pursue are the recruiting and training of about 1,400 security forces specialists and shifting personnel from other occupations.

The Air Force also plans to explore the use of contract security, an option made available Dec. 2 when the president signed the 2003 Defense Authorization Act. Section 332 of the act allows military installations to hire contract security guards to meet new security requirements brought about by the events of Sept. 11, 2001.