SEATTLE (AP)--A month after several hundred National Guardsmen rushed to bolster exhausted police officers during the World Trade Organization protests here, the state's part-time soldiers are gearing up for New Year's weekend.

Officials say more than 2,400 members of the Washington National Guard assigned to the 81st Infantry Brigade will gather at their armories Saturday for a normal two-day training.

But the Guard troops will be immediately available in the event of Y2K computer glitches, civil unrest or other emergencies, said Maj. Gen. Tim Lowenberg, adjutant general of the state National Guard.

Guard troops also may help with traffic control, recovering stranded people or vehicles, emergency communications and airlifts.

"We've given a great deal of thought of how to take care of the people of Washington," Lowenberg said. "We're confident that we are prepared."

Guard commanders last winter moved up a routine weekend training originally scheduled for Jan. 8 and 9 to coincide with the new year.

Troops will be able to be deployed from their armories to a crisis area within several hours, instead of the 24- to 48-hour period it would normally take, said Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Rick Patterson.

The Guardsmen will be organized in six provisional task forces in case they are needed for emergency response.

Recent arrests at U.S.-Canada border checkpoints--including four Sunday at Blaine, Wash.--have heightened fears that extremists may be planning attacks timed to the millennium.

The state's Emergency Management Division also will go on alert Dec. 28, when it will become the official Y2K coordination center for the state.

Patterson said the Fort Lewis-based 66th Aviation Brigade will be on hand to provide airlifts with its three dozen cargo and medical evacuation helicopters.

Guard officials concluded earlier this year it would not be necessary for the soldiers to be on duty on New Year's Eve, Patterson said, noting the Guard is a back up force to local and state police.

With 3,400 personnel from the state, as well as a battalion based in California, the 81st Infantry Brigade is the largest single combat unit in the Washington National Guard. It also has a fleet of 580 military trucks and 350 "Humvee" all-terrain vehicles.