Iraq-bound Guard unit gets sendoff
Published: Thu, Sep. 25, 2008 09:15AM
Modified Thu, Sep. 25, 2008 04:00PM
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closeHundreds of friends and family members gathered this afternoon for a farewell ceremony for the N.C. National Guard's 449th Theater Aviation Brigade, based in Morrisville.
About 120 members of the unit will go to Fort Bragg and then to Fort Rucker in Alabama for a few final weeks of training before deploying to Iraq in November. Nearly three-fourths of the brigade's members have deployed before, many of them to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Today, they were treated to a National Guard rite, the formal farewell where community and government leaders publicly thank the service members -- and the families and coworkers who must do the work they leave behind -- for their sacrifice and their dedication to their country.
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A succession of representatives from the offices of the state's Congressional representatives read letters of thanks; the mayor of Morrisville wished the men and women of the 449th godspeed; and the commander of the brigade promised to bring his soldiers home safe.
The 449th is expected back sometime around Labor Day 2009.
martha.quillin@newsobserver.com or (919) 829-8989
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