(CBS) – They were able to spend Thanksgiving with family, but now it’s time to deploy for members of a suburban Army Reserve unit.
21 soldiers from the 300th human resources company were honored in a farewell ceremony at the Forest Park community center Sunday morning.
Antoinette Escamilla was having a hard time saying goodbye to her little brother Albert as he prepares for a one year deployment, but she’s already thinking about how he’ll be home for Christmas next year.
“We really upset about it, but at the same time he said he has got to serve his country and that it what we have to live,” Escamilla said.
Brigadier General Arlan DeBlieck told the Spartan platoon and their families communication is key while they’re gone.
“It is very easy for the soldier when he is with his team members to be focuses on the mission and to lose sight of another fight that is going on back here at home,” said DeBlieck.
The unit will be running an Army post office in Afghanistan for about nine or ten months after training.
Members leave for Ft. Dix in January.
