Mississippi Soldiers Deploy

Jon Kirkland hugs his wife Stephanie before getting on a bus to go to Camp Shelby.

Today more than 3,000 Mississippi soldiers deployed to Camp Shelby on their way to Iraq. MPB’s Cari Gervin reports.

The 51 units of the Mississippi National Guard’s 155th Brigade Combat Team mobilized early Friday morning.

First Sergeant John Moyer is in charge of the Oxford and Indianola units. As he directed the soldiers to make their final goodbyes outside the National Guard Armory in Oxford, Moyer said he was ready for the mission to begin. Most of his soldiers, he said, are making their second trip.

“It’s nothing new. They’re doing a lot of the same missions that they’ve done previously. So we’ve been knowing we were going to deploy for quite some time, so we’re looking very forward to going ahead and getting it over with.”

But the deployment is a first for some families. As the soldiers boarded the bus for Camp Shelby, tears fell and flags waved. Stephanie Kirkland hugged her husband Jon one last time, her yellow flag earrings blowing in the wind. They’ve been married less than a year.

“It’s terrible. It just breaks your heart, it really does. And I just hope they all come home safe.”

The 155th will be at Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg until the troops deploy to Iraq in June. For MPB News I’m Cari Gervin in Oxford.