(ME) Air Guard troops begin four-month deployment

[unhappycamper]

Tech. Sgt. Joseph Velozo, of Turner, in the 265th Combat Communications Squadron of the Air National Guard, kisses his son, Jace, 10 months old, Sunday during a send-off by family and friends at the Portland jetport



Senior Airman Zach Poulin, of Berwick, says goodbye to his girlfriend, Taryn Denoncour, on Sunday at the Portland jetport. Thirteen members of the Air National Guard’s 265th Combat Communications Squadron left for duty in Iraq.


Air Guard troops begin four-month deployment
By ELBERT AULL Staff Writer
September 10, 2007

Zachary Poulin of Berwick said if all goes well, he will be back at the University of Maine next semester, studying business administration.

But first, Iraq.

Poulin volunteered in March for a four-month Iraq deployment that began in earnest Sunday.

"I felt an obligation in a lot of ways," the 20-year-old college sophomore said.

Poulin was one of 13 Maine Air National Guard members who left Portland International Jetport on Sunday for northern Iraq. The members of the South Portland-based 265th Communications Squadron will spend the next four months overseeing the communications array at Kirkuk Air Base.

~snip~

The squadron has not deployed to the Middle East since the early days of the Iraq war. They left Portland the day before a much-awaited congressional briefing from Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, who is expected to detail the results of President Bush's decision to order additional troops into Iraq earlier this year.


Rest of article at: http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=133131&ac=PHnws


uhc comment: May the wind always be at your back, and may you return home safely.