Dozens of Connecticut National Guardsmen received a celebratory sendoff Thursday night in Hartford ahead of their departures for Cuba and Afghanistan.
About 35 members of the 143rd Regional Support Group will head to a military post in Afghanistan, while 55 soldiers from the 192nd Military Police Battalion are bound for Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
"We have a lot of leadership going down and it should be quite easy to make sure they provide a safe, humane environment for the detainees that are down there right now," explained Master Sgt. Edmund Scarchilli of the 192nd Military Police Battalion, which is based in Niantic.
His wife said it's hard to see him go but knows he has a job to do.
"I'm sad, I'm going to miss him but we support the mission," said Kerri Scarchilli, of North Stonington. "I mean, we know this is his job."
According to the National Guard, the deployment of the Middletown-based 143rd Regional Support Group is "unprecedented," because the unit was only given two months to prepare instead of the usual 18 to 24 months.
Both groups will spend nine months to a year overseas.
