The Times and Democrat - DID YOU HEAR?

An estimated 90 soldiers from the Orangeburg 218th Brigade Company B/163rd Battalion will be given a heroes’ farewell as the Orangeburg unit prepares for its largest deployment since World War II.

The unit will depart from the National Guard Armory on Stonewall Jackson Boulevard Thursday, Feb. 8 and head up U.S. 601 with a planned police escort.

“We are sending our guys off to a potentially dangerous situation, and we would like Orangeburg to know and come out and give these guys a heroes’ send-off,” South Carolina Army National Guard recruiting and retention NCO Sgt. First Class Chris Dyer said.

“We want to make sure these guys know they are leaving with the support of their community,” he said. “We want them to carry that with them.”

Prior to the escort, an informal ceremony will be held at the armory with family, friends and community leaders.

The event is being sponsored and prepared by the Family Readiness Group, a volunteer-based network overseen by the state National Guard.

Family Readiness aims to be a personal resource for soldiers and their families. Each military unit has a local contact person and still has access to the localized FRG.

The time and specific details of the event have not yet been determined.

“I have been around for 20 years in the National Guard, and we have never sent the guys off to a situation they are in now,” Dyer said. “It is a time to celebrate our soldiers and to give them support.”

Company B will be deployed to Afghanistan as part of Task Force Phoenix.

The entire tour of duty is expected to be 18 months, which includes the preliminary training before arrival in Afghanistan and debriefing.

Soldiers will depart for two months of training to Camp Shelby, Miss., before heading to Afghanistan in April for a yearlong deployment to a base outside of Kabul.

TFP is a five-year multinational effort designed to keep the battered nation on the road to recovery following the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The coalition force is tasked with conducting the training of the Afghan National Army and the Afghan National Police. It reports through the NATO chain of command, which formally took full responsibility for Afghanistan in October 2006.

The Orangeburg unit, along with Walterboro, Darlington/Florence and Hampton of the 163rd battalion, joined about 1,800 men and women of the 218th for a ceremonial send-off at Williams Brice Stadium in Columbia earlier this month.

The deployment is considered the largest in the history of the South Carolina National Guard.

For more information on how to assist with the send-off, call Sgt. First Class Chris Dyer at 803- 383-0000.

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