What: The 147 Georgia National Guard Soldiers of the Toccoa based 876th Engineer Company will be departing from the Toccoa, Georgia, Baptist Convention Center heading to Afghanistan for a nine-month deployment. Local citizens are invited to line the streets of downtown Toccoa to wave their flags and cheer on the outstanding Soldiers as they travel through en route to the airport.
When: May 30, 2014, at 5:15 a.m.
Where: Intersection area of Broad and East Tugalo Streets, downtown Toccoa, Georgia.
Who: Open to the entire community .
Contact: Lt. Col. Thomas Lesnieski, Director of Public Affairs, Georgia National Guard, (404) 323-9045, thomas.j.lesnieski.mil@mail.mil
Background: The Soldiers will be on a nine-month deployment to Afghanistan and will provide engineering support to U.S. bases and the Afghan military. As combat operations in Afghanistan come to a close at the end of this year, this is the last scheduled Georgia National Guard unit to deploy in support of the war fight.