Family, friends bid farewell as Iowa Guard deploys

“I want to see my dad,” Taylor Long said, peering behind the big curtain that split the U.S. Cellular Center this morning.

But Taylor, 5, couldn't pick Sgt. Dennis Long from among the 340 identically uniformed members of the 2/34th Brigade Special Troops Battalion mustering for their official deployment sendoff. First, she and about 50 members of her extended family, many wearing bright blue T-shirts with Long's name, cheered as the troops marched into the auditorium.

“These are the heroes of our hometowns today,” Brig. Gen. Tim Orr,  the Iowa National Guard's adjutant general, told the audience about 1,500.

“This is a very tough time for the families with children,” Gov. Chet Culver said. “I can only imagine how tough it is.”

“I don't think that a lot of people know, unless they're right there in it,” Catey Leonard of Belle Plaine said before the speeches. She'll home with Steven, 5, and Greysen, 17 months, while her husband Spec. Kyle Long is among the nearly 3,000 Iowa National Guard troops who will spend their year in Afghanistan.

“It's going to be a long time,” said Leonard. “I'm not really worried about him, but it's going to be a long time.”

“That's tough,” Kyle Long, 21, said of the separation. But “the experience has been great. I wouldn't want to go with any other unit.”

After about eight weeks of stateside training, the Iowans will provide security, humanitarian aid, and training for Afghan police and military, Orr said.

“I will admit I'm a little nervous about going over to Afghanistan right now,” said Spec. Chris Clark of Cedar Rapids. “There's a lot of things going on, but I'm also rather excited. We're going over with a great group of troops. We've been training for years now, and I think we're all pretty ready for this.”

“I'm very proud of him,” Mary Roberson said of Clark, her son. The Robersons – Mary, husband Michael, and daughter Terrianna made the trip over from Madison, Wisc. for the event.

The Robersons were joined by Clark's local friends. Clark, 30, who works at Toyota Financial, joined the Guard after a stretch in the Air Force.

“It'll be pretty difficult for me to leave my family behind right now,” he said. “I can't wait to see them as soon as I can when I get back.”

“We're going to miss him, because he's a pretty big part of our (extended) family,” Mary Roberson said. ”He's going to miss the birth of my first grandhild – his first niece. I'm trying not to cry.”

Many of the hundreds of family members, and a few troops, gathered on the arena floor for final farewells after the formal ceremony lost that battle.

“We're proud of him, and he's in our thoughts and prayers, ” said a red-eyed Andrea Roggeveen, Long's girlfriend. “I'm pregnant, so that's going to be a long nine months.”

“I'm sure it'll sink in once I get over there,” said Long, 25. “But I have a big support group.”

“I'm definitely prepared,” said Long, on his first deployment. “It's what they trained us to do.”

Taylor, 5, and her sister Lanie, 4, were firmly attached to their father's shoulders as family members snapped photos and exchanged hugs.

“We're doing the best you can, I guess, considering,” said Jim Long, Dennis Long's father. “By the time he gets back, we'll have 11 new members of the family, between babies and marriages.”

Another ceremony will be held 2 p.m. Sunday at the U.S. Cellular Center for about 160 members of companies A and B of the 334th Brigade Support Battalion. A ceremony Monday in Des Moines will the last of 32 such official farewells for departing Guard members, said Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood, the Iowa Guard's spokesman.

After about an hour, the troops were called to board the six buses for Camp Shelby, Miss., for initial training. The crowd followed, standing in the diesel fumes and soft rain, exchanging waves with the shadowy figures behind the buses' tinted glass.

It took about 20 minutes for the buses to load, but no one left. Perched on the shoulders of their grandfather and an uncle, Taylor and Lanie Long waved and waved as the buses pulled away.

“We're alright,” said Roggeveen.

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