Sendoff ceremonies at the Mattydale National Guard Armory on Sunday morning
/ Bill Ali
SYRACUSE -- New York Army National Guard soldiers from across the state are preparing to board planes that will take them to Mississippi to prepare for deployment to Kuwait.
The soldiers include hundreds of members of the 108th Infantry Regiment of the Syracuse-based 27th Infantry Brigade Combat Team. In all, nearly 1,800 soldiers will be deployed to Kuwait in April.
The Syracuse-based 28th Infantry Brigade Combat team participated in a sendoff ceremony at the Mattydale armory Sunday morning.
National Guard officials say more than 1,700 soldiers are scheduled to depart Tuesday from Syracuse's Hancock Field Air National Guard Base to fly to Camp Shelby, Miss. The troops mobilized this past weekend.
After training down south, the New York Guardsmen will head to Kuwait, where they'll provide security for U.S. military facilities. The deployment is expected to last for up to a year.
(Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.)
