Stillwater and Area Residents can help send off soldiers

Stillwater and Area Residents can help send off soldiers

Supporters will line Main Street as National Guard unit leaves city.

Payne County's state lawmakers will join family members and other supporters in a sendoff for a Stillwater-based Oklahoma National Guard unit Wednesday.

The Stillwater-based headquarters company of the First Battalion, 179th Infantry Regiment is set to deploy to Afghanistan as a part of the Oklahoma National Guard's 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team in early summer.

Area residents are invited to line Main Street in Stillwater from 8 a. m. to 9 a. m. Wednesday to show support as the unit passes on its way out of town.

During the deployment, the brigade will conduct full-spectrum operations, meaning it will handle all military operations in a given region. Its tasks will include counter-insurgency operations and construction projects. Members of the brigade also will act as advisers to the Iraqi military and federal police force.

The deployment represents the largest the Oklahoma National Guard has seen since the Korean War. The brigade expects to return in spring 2012.

In a joint release, Reps. Cory Williams, D-Stillwater, and Lee Denney, R-Cushing, announced that they would be present at the event, as will Sen. Jim Halligan, R-Stillwater.

Rachelle Buck, a support specialist for Yellow Ribbon Support Services, said it's important for members of the unit to know that the community supports them.

It's equally important for them to feel confident that their families will continue to receive support during the deployment, she said.

Buck said she is glad the three lawmakers planned to attend the event.

" We were very pleased to hear that they were supporting it," she said.

The brigade held a large deployment ceremony last month at Oklahoma City's Cox Convention Center. The local ceremony is designed to give Stillwater residents the chance to show support for Stillwater area soldiers, Buck said.

25 Mar 2011-Stillwater NewsPress (Stillwater, OK) 

By Silas Allen sallen@ stwnewspress. com