Not everyone involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom carries a gun to work.

More than 1,500 soldiers from North Dakota are in Iraq or soon will be heading there. The majority of them are from the National Guard's 142nd and 141st Engineer Combat Battalions and the 957th Multi-Role Bridge Company.

But there's a strong cadre of people fighting the fight from home. A lot of them you don't hear about.

Here are three.

The Army employs more puzzling phrases than a year's worth of "Wheel of Fortune" episodes.

They speak in acronyms and abbreviations that, honestly, you have to have passed muster at boot camp to understand. It's like taking a year of Spanish and traveling to Madrid to speak with an auctioneer. You pick up a few words, but most of it goes over your head faster than an IRBM (Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile).

But there's one phrase in constant use by the North Dakota National Guard that always makes sense.

"Let me put you in touch with Rob Keller."

You get that a lot, whether you call the Guard or the state's Division of Emergency Management. Keller is spokesman for both.

That means he's an expert juggler.

"Oh man, Rob's a guy who is innovative, who works tirelessly to get the word out," said Maj. Gen. Michael Haugen, the commander of the North Dakota National Guard. "He understands that soldiers and families and everyone need to hear what's going on. He does a good job for the Guard, and gives insight to the Division of Emergency Management."

Haugen hand-picked Sgt. 1st Class Keller for the position, one that in almost every other state goes to an officer. His counterpart in Minnesota is a full colonel.

"He asked me if I wanted (the job), and I said 'Sir, I'm not an officer,'" Keller said. "He said 'I didn't ask you if you were an officer, I asked you if you wanted the job.'"

He took it, in 2001. He calls it his dream job. It must be, because he was up for full retirement benefits at Christmas, and didn't take it.

"I enjoy what I do, to see that it makes a difference in soldiers' lives," Keller said. "I want to continue to get the word out about what the Guard is doing. I see what's been done out there, what our soldiers are doing, and I want to tell that story."

Keller's office has put out 30 press releases on Guard activities - most involving the units in Iraq - since October. More than that, he went to Iraq in November as part of a team whose mission was to document the day-to-day activities of the North Dakota units there.

Back in Bismarck, a majority of the calls to the Guard are routed through Keller's office. "Let me put you in touch with Rob Keller" is the refrain.

He is the equivalent of publisher of the Guard's quarterly "Straight Arrow" newspaper.

Also, Keller handles most of the questions from the media, which can include national attention in situations such as the Dru Sjodin kidnapping case in Grand Forks. When you talk to Keller, you know you'll get an honest answer, and soon. For the moment, it might be "I don't know," but you know he's looking into it.

"It's a passion with me to make sure calls are returned within an hour, to be the spokesperson," Keller said. "My motto is 'maximum disclosure, minimum delay.'"

That can mean long hours. As news breaks - whether it's a Guard unit mobilizing or a grass fire that threatens a town - Keller is always reachable. And patience, he said, is a gift with which he's been blessed.

"There are times when Rob's on leave that he's not on leave," said Spc. Jon Haugen, who works with Keller in the public information office. "We're available 24-7, and the soldiers in the command know it. Rob's the type of guy I always want to work with: He takes care of you, and he's a great mentor."

On Tuesday, CW2 Gerard Schwan drove to Jamestown.

On Wednesday, to Minot.

Thursday it was back home to Bismarck, which these days means his small office in the basement of Building 40 at Fraine Barracks. Under the fluorescent lights, he works into the night.

Schwan heads the North Dakota National Guard's Family Assistance Office, which, in the current climate, is more than a full-time job. He works directly and intensely with families of those Guard soldiers and airmen called to active duty.

"He has worked with those families from the get-go, with hardly any time off," said Linda Engelman, the Guard's lead volunteer. "He has put in a phenomenal amount of hours. For him, it's a labor of love."

It must be. The 39-year-old has his 20 years in and is still hard at it.

Schwan supervises the five family assistance centers in North Dakota (Bismarck, Minot, Camp Grafton, Grand Forks, Fargo), where the majority of calls are made about problems or questions with this-or-that policy. His office also educates and provides the budget for volunteers, advises Guard staff, evaluates units as to their readiness for mobilization and, generally, tries to solve problems people have.

"Right now we're in chaos mode," Schwan said. "People want to know what to do next (with soldiers leaving the country and those coming back). I spend half the day communicating on the phone and e-mail with guidance for families."

Schwan coordinates the sending of care packages, the organizing of parties, the delivery of mail to soldiers in Iraq. He keeps tabs on the soldiers who come home on two-week leave. He puts volunteers where they're needed most. He's met face-to-face with every North Dakota National Guard soldier deployed.

"When I got here I knew about the technical things - documents and mobilization forms," Schwan said. "But what it comes down to is individual personalities, and there's no training for how to handle that. Sometimes I fail, but I always try. If I can't give an answer to something, I try to somehow help people."

Schwan recently received a letter from a woman whose husband is deployed. She said she was fed up with everything.

That letter he took home, to call her after hours. He wanted to make sure he got in touch with her, to answer questions she had, to be a sounding board.

"Our job begins the first day an alert (for mobilization) call comes," Schwan said. "It doesn't end for years afterwards. There are emotional issues. We're still dealing with issues from Desert Storm."

According to Schwan, clinicians have reported up to 20 percent of American soldiers returning from Iraq will suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. His office is teaching families how to recognize signs of PTSD. It also offers families tips about how to prepare for the return of their loved ones and things they can do for themselves while that person is gone.

Today, Schwan will be on the road again, this time to Dickinson. He'll exit Interstate 94 later today but won't be off the road until his job is done.

Linda Engelman volunteers in the same way a U.S. soldier in Iraq thinks about his family: Lovingly and almost constantly.

Engelman puts in 30 to 40 hours per week as lead volunteer for the North Dakota National Guard's Family Readiness Program. She travels across the state, meeting with families of deployed Guard members. She also helps organize events for those families, such as the dinner party at the Heritage Center following the Dec. 1 lighting of the state Christmas tree.

"She gives so much of her time to us, and it's invaluable," CWO Gerard Schwan, head of the Family Assistance Office, said. "She has a big picture to look at, with units across the entire state. She has been all over the place, visiting family members, listening to them."

After attaining a degree in social work from the University of North Dakota, Engelman went on to earn her master's in counseling from North Dakota State University. See? If she could put aside the rivalry between the schools in pursuit of a greater good, Engelman probably has a lot to offer in terms of handling conflict.

She grew up with a father in the National Guard, and her brother also was a member. She married Jerry Engelman, who is the state's assistant adjutant general for the Air National Guard.

"The National Guard has been a way of life for me," Engelman said. "There comes a time when you need to pay something back."

Engelman quit her job at Bismarck State College and took over the lead volunteer position about two years ago. The time she's given to the position has increased substantially since mobilization of Guard soldiers began last year.

Engelman goes out across North Dakota to talk to families and schools about the effects of separation on marriages and on children.

She helps provide families with tools to help them cope - sometimes reading material, sometimes advice and sometimes just a shoulder to cry on. She trains families to recognize signs of post-traumatic stress disorder and works with unit volunteers to get the word out that help is available.

Engelman has helped Schwan create an emergency relief fund for Guard soldiers and their families. They seek donations and use the money to help needy families who have exhausted every other resource.

"It's our job to reach out to those families," Engelman said. "We can never do enough, but we have to try. The people who are living this are the heroes. We support them, but no matter how long my day is, I go home to my husband at night. They don't have that luxury."