Husbands and wives, friends and family members exchanged hugs and kisses in Windsor Locks this morning as an aviation unit got ready to deploy for around a year.
Tears streamed down faces as the 1-169 General Support Aviation Battalion, a unit made up of 90 men and women, said goodbye to loved ones at a Windsor Locks Army support facility.
[HAR] National Guard Sendoff Photos
The troops will head first to Fort Hood in Texas for about 45 days of additional training, then they will fly to Kosovo where they will provide medical and general aviation support to those already stationed there.
For those leaving little ones behind, the departure seemed particularly difficult.
Corrine Lapierre, the wife of one of the soldiers, has said goodbye before.
"Jeff and I were dating then, but now we have a home and a family, so it's different than it was then," she said.
Local
This is the third time in six weeks that a United States National Guard unit from Connecticut is being deployed.
