A group of Hawaii National Guard soldiers heading to southern Afghanistan at a time when so-called "green-on-blue" attacks have reached epidemic levels plans to employ a not-so-secret weapon — the aloha spirit.

It worked on two deployments to Iraq, and 140 Hawaii Guard soldiers who soon will be in Kandahar province intend to use it again. An additional 60 soldiers heading out are from Guam and Arizona.

The aloha shown to Afghan role-players by the Hawaii soldiers was noted during training at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif., and the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, La., said Col. Kenneth Hara, who commands the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team and is one of the deploying soldiers.

"They highlighted that the soldiers from Hawaii did way better than the average military unit, Guard or Reserve, and that’s tied to the culture of Hawaii," Hara said. "We’re kind of a multinational culture, open to different cultures, and more understanding and empathetic, and they say it was clearly noticed by the Afghan role-players and the observer controllers."

The Hawaii citizen soldiers are heading to Afghanistan for about nine months to train that country’s forces as part of Security Force Assistance Teams. Most of those deploying are higher-ranking officers and enlisted soldiers from the 29th Brigade.

Hara said his soldiers will be broken up into teams of nine to 12 and parceled out around what is known as Regional Command South. The majority of the teams will be assigned to Afghan battalions, or kandaks, of about 400 security force members.

With the troubling regularity of green-on-blue attacks — "friendly" Afghan forces turning on NATO troops — some of the Hawaii soldiers admit they are worried.

"I think everyone’s still apprehensive because the amount of green-on-blue attacks has increased, I think exponentially, in the last year and a half or so, so it’s still a concern," Hara said.

"It’s on my mind," said 1st Sgt. Jeremy Chang, 36, a Honolulu police officer who is deploying. "I think about it. During our (mobilization) training, we trained for that kind of stuff. To me, the way I train my guys is, expect the unexpected, and just to be ready for anything."

Keeping and eye on Afghans who are supposed to be allies while also being alert for roadside bombs and attacks that may come around the next bend just adds to the stress, Chang said.

"It’s going to be a very stressful environment just having to always be on your guard and always watch for those kind of things," he said.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, from 2007 to Oct. 31, 2012, there were 69 documented green-on-blue attacks, with two in 2008, five in 2009, five in 2010, 15 in 2011 and 40 so far this year.

The institute cited two themes relating to the attacks: grievances and infiltration.

Grievance-based attacks occur because of cultural misunderstandings and perceived insults or provocations, the organization said, while other attacks were violence planned by militant groups.

The Hawaii soldiers trained in Hawaii and arrived at Camp Shelby, Miss., on Aug. 2, Hara said. They also trained in California and Louisiana. Once they get to Afghanistan they will conduct a few weeks of familiarization with units already there before taking over working with Afghan forces.

"All of the training that we did back in Hawaii is kind of a logical progression because we went from individual training and a little bit of our battle drills, and then when we got here (in Mississippi), we got more into the collective training, so we went from individual to crew to the SFAT team training," Hara said.

Hawaii soldiers with the 29th Brigade developed a rapport with many Iraqis on deployments in 2005 and 2008 — passing along the infectious shaka along the way.

Hara said the Hawaii teams plan to go with aloha, but they’re prepared for whatever comes. In the wake of so many green-on-blue killings, NATO instituted security for its troops in the form of "guardian angels" whose job it is to watch the backs of fellow unit members.

"It’s a combination of one, being vigilant and alert to look for indicators of a potential threat, and then emplacing both overt and covert security measures … letting them know, ‘Hey, I’m armed. I’ve got a bullet in the chamber. If you try something, we’re going to react,’" Hara said.

Chang said the plan is "when we get there, we’ve just got to work on building relationships with (the Aghans) and that good rapport."

The mission using a few Americans working with larger groups of Aghans is akin to what Army Special Forces does. Chang gained some experience in that area when he and other Hawaii Guard members deployed to the Philippines in 2007 and lived with Special Forces soldiers.

Chang, who has been in the Guard for 19 years and also was on both Iraq deployments, is married to a former Hawaii Guard member. She’s handling the deployment "all right," he said.

"She knows what to do and what to expect," he said. "But then again, on the other hand, she’s like any other spouse. She doesn’t want me to go and she gave me a lecture, (saying) this is my last one."