CAMP FOX, Kuwait -- Four days ago, Port Hueneme Seabees deployed in Kuwait got their first pets: Two pigeons they have named Bert and Ernie.

Friday, Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 Commanding Officer James Worcester ordered that the birds, cooped up in parakeet cages next to a storage box, be more visible in the battalion's Combat Operations Center.

"One thing about birds: You better put them front and center," Worcester said, "otherwise, you might not notice for a half-hour that they are at the bottom of the cage."

Not only are these pigeons becoming pets for some battalion members like Petty Officer 1st class Tammy Baerwald, they also might save her life.

Bert is mostly white with a sprinkling of gray feathers. Ernie is a mottled brown. Both have heartbeats faster than any Seabee or soldier, and in the event of a gas attack, they are likely to be the first to keel over. If anyone in the command center ever sees the birds falling off their perches, they would clang the dinner bell-style triangle that warns of a chemical or gas attack. The Seabees would immediately take their gas masks from their belts and strap them over their heads.

The bulk of the 700-member NMCB-4 is stationed at Camp Fox in the Kuwaiti desert. It's a stark patch of sand with large 25-by-40-foot Bedouin tents neatly placed in rows. The Seabees only got showers three days ago. But that didn't cause the most excitement at camp this week.

In the past week, there were several exchanges of gunfire between Iraqi sympathizers and Marines at the camp border or just outside of it, said Lt. j.g. Sam Durbin. Five days ago, a plane dropped a suspicious smoking object near the camp. Everyone wore their gas masks for four hours before officials were sure no noxious chemicals or gases were in the air.

The last of battalion 4 arrived in Kuwait Thursday, the night a fierce sandstorm knocked down their lights, leveled many of the camp's sleeping tents and demolished the galley.

"When the sandstorm hit, it woke everyone up to where we are, and it's not in your comfort zone," said Lt. j.g. Ajay Joshi, "especially when we saw camels the next night."

For some, Bert and Ernie are just more reminders of the dangers they face as the U.S. prepares for a war against Iraq. One Seabee referred to them as the "flying rats." For others, they are just another piece of equipment that requires special attention.

"They are simply pigeons in my eyes," Durbin said, "and an early warning system."

But for Baerwald, who feeds and cares for them, they are just a little bit more.

"It makes it feel more like home," she said. "It's one of our only added features, since we don't have anything."

And now, with the commander's order, Bert and Ernie won't just be part of the office furniture, but a centerpiece.