A new Georgia National Guard unit moved one step closer to a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan on Monday morning after attending a send-off ceremony at Fort Gordon.
The 58-person Agribusiness Development Team is now headed to Camp Atterbury, Ind., where it will receive additional training before departing for Afghanistan in late May. It is the first of three such teams from Georgia that will be deploying to Afghanistan during the next three years.
The soldiers will be training Afghan farmers how to better irrigate their farms, take care of their crops and raise cattle. During their deployment, the soldiers will work closely with Afghan government officials as well as some U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Agriculture Department.
“We are excited,” Col. Bill Williams, the unit's commander, said in a phone interview Monday as he rode on a bus with his soldiers to Indiana. “The morale is good. The team is ready to go.”
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