SALT LAKE CITY -- Bobsled driver Shauna Rohbock has been mobilized by the Utah National Guard for deployment to Iraq, ending her current World Cup competition, and -- she fears -- her Olympic dreams.

Rohbock, 26, of Orem was among 500 Utah National Guard soldiers called to active duty earlier this month. She and other members of the 115th Engineer Group will complete training at Camp Williams before reporting to Fort Carson, Colo., in early January for final preparations before leaving for the Persian Gulf.

"Obviously I'm devastated, because this ends my Olympic dreams," she told The Salt Lake Tribune Wednesday night after military night training. "It would be impossible to come back as a driver and miss so much.

"I said I would defend my country, and obviously it has come to that."

The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation was notified last Friday that she had been called up and would miss that weekend's World Cup competition at Lake Placid.

"It's going to be devastating to the U.S. bobsled team to lose her," U.S. women's coach Bill Tavares said. "Shauna's departure from the United States team will greatly affect the U.S. women's bobsled standings on the World Cup circuit."

Rohbock formerly played on the Brigham Young University women's soccer team and now plays with the San Diego Spirit.

She also belongs to the Army's World Class Athlete Program, based in Colorado Springs, which provides athletes pay and benefits while they compete for their country. She was among 13 Army athletes who competed in the 2002 Games,

"She is the first athlete in the program to be deployed since 9-11," said the program's commander, Maj. Michael Hagen. "Everyone understands that they could be pulled out of WCAP if the Army needs them to serve."

Her father, Charles Rohbock of Orem, said, "Shauna was recruited in the military as an athlete, was told by military sources that she would represent herself as an athlete. As a father, no one wants to see a son or daughter go to war. She's willing to do her part. I believe she's much more valuable to the Army as an athlete than as a soldier."

The deployment could keep her away for up to 18 months.

The Utah Guard has the power to exempt Rohbock from service, but that is unlikely.

"Where would we draw the line between an athlete, a doctor, a small-business man with several employees or a farmer who has been mobilized?" said Brig. Gen. Stanley J. Gordon, assistant adjutant general of the Utah Guard. "People signed up knowing full well that they could be mobilized."

About 1,800 National Guard members and Army reservists from Utah are serving in the Persian Gulf.