Tearful Time In Dunlap

Tears, prayers and flags flying set the stage in Dunlap Friday morning as people said goodbye to the men and women answering the call of duty to Iraq.

They are Tennessee Army National Guardsmen who are once again sacrificing so much under orders to go into harms way. Another 3,000 Guardsmen got the latest orders to go to the Middle East. Tennessee has sacrificed so much since September 11, 2001, with almost 20,000 Guardsmen deployed.

It is a journey many of the Guardsmen from Dunlap have taken before, while some are going to Iraq for the first time. They all leave behind loved ones, not really knowing what's awaiting them so far away.

"They are going over there to fight for our country," Tonya Hollen said. "But I just think it's sad since some of our troops are going over there and some may not come home and we've lost a lot already."

Since "9/11" the mission of Army National Guardsmen has changed, from protecting our state homeland to being deployed to hostile lands far away to fight an obscure enemy.

"They are our people, they are our flesh and blood, these are the signatures of this community we are sending," Ron Follett said.

Dunlap's police chief, Clint Huth, returned from Afghanistan back in June serving in the Navy to support Army units there. He knows exactly what's going through so many hearts and minds.

"The things that start to settle in are leaving my family, leaving my friends, you start thinking of the things your going to be missing," Huth said.

It's the children soldiers will miss the most, and they will miss their fathers and mothers too. It will be up to spouses to take care of the family, for now.

"I just don't know what to say, I never expected this to happen again," Karen Millsaps said about the departure of her husband.

The parade is somber but there is already anticipation to celebrate the return of these hometown heros.

"They go with our hearts and with our prayers," Follett said. 

This latest deployment will affect thousands of soldiers and families in 45 Tennessee cities. The Guardsmen depart Sunday for training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and after two months they'll go to Iraq.