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GROUP PLANS SEND-OFF FOR TROOPS
Tuesday, December 9th, 2008 -- 11:53 am
Posted by Riley Hebert-News Director
 A group has formed to support the families of area soldiers as they get ready for deployment to Iraq.
The 32 Red Arrow Brigade will head to Texas for training in February, then it’s off to Iraq for 10 months.
Neillsville has a unit in the Brigade.
Nancy Olson of Loyal is a member of the Friends of the National Guard Support Group.
When the Neillsville unit was called up 4 years ago, there was a big send-off at the Clark County Fairgrounds. Because of a National Guard reorganization, that won’t be possible this time.
"The Neillsville unit and the Eau Claire unit got split up," Olson says. "The unit out of Neillsville, Company F, is not going as a group. Instead of having a send-off like there was last time, there will not be a send-off."
Instead, a smaller send-off party for Neillsville area soldiers is planned for January 3 at the Neillsville American Legion.
The group will also conduct a silent auction and sweepstakes to cover the cost of the event. Anything left over will be used to put together care packages.
Olson says the public will be able to help out, too.
"In the past, we've put together packages with different food items, different calling cards. Anything that they might need overseas," Olson says, "Depending on what patrol base they're put at, they'll have different needs."
Again, the send-off is planned for January 3 from 6 to midnight at the Neillsville American Legion.
At least 14 Neillsville graduates are part of the 32 Brigade.
We’ll have much more about the deployment in the coming weeks.
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