Dressed in green military fatigues and carrying fully loaded automatic rifles, members of the Pennsylvania National Guard will begin patrolling the University Park Airport today to assist airport officials with security.

President Bush gave the order Thursday to place National Guard troops at 422 commercial airports throughout the country.

This measure comes in an effort to increase airport security after three hijacked commercial airliners crashed into the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11. A fourth went down in Somerset County.

Members of the National Guard are expected to arrive at the University Park Airport, 2535 Fox Hill Rd., today.

"This was directly a result of (the president's) request," said University Park Airport Manager Bob Dannaker.

Details regarding what the National Guard will do at the airport are still unclear, but there will be an increased military presence in the terminal, Dannaker said.

The governors for each individual state control the National Guard units and have the ability to call the units for duty if necessary, Dannaker said.

About 5,000 members of the National Guard nationwide will be assisting security at airports for the next four to six months, the National Guard Web site (www.ngb.dtic.mil) said.

At airports in other parts of the world, it is not uncommon to see armed members of the military on patrol, Dannaker said.

"In many (European) airports there are military personnel in the terminal," Dannaker said. "It's going to be a positive thing."

The University Park airport handles about 250,000 passengers a year, offering flights to four major cities, Dannaker said.

Although members of the guard have yet to arrive, some passengers who fly from the University Park airport support their presence.

"Seeing it is scary, but it makes me feel safe," said Abigail Maletta (freshman-elementary education)

Maletta said that when she was in Italy, she noticed armed guards in Italian airports are not the exception but the norm.

But she is worried about future attacks.

"When we feel comfortable again is when we have to worry," Maletta said.

Daniel Lilienthal, a student at Washington University in St. Louis, flew in to State College this weekend to visit a friend. Although he has yet to see the armed members of the National Guard, security getting on the plane was much tighter than any he ever experienced before.

"They had a bucket for anything with a sharp edge on it," he said. "They said any kind of knife, even nail files and scissors, had to be put in the bucket."

The confiscated objects were not returned to the passengers getting on the plane, he added.

"Terrorism is a constant threat," Lilienthal said. "You can't blame the government."