560 National Guard soldiers get raucous send-off

More than 500 Minnesota National Guard soldiers will have warm memories when they deploy overseas later this year.

That's because hundreds of people packed school gymnasiums across west-central Minnesota on Saturday to give them a raucous send-off.

The 560 soldiers are members of the 1st Battalion, 151st Field Artillery. They'll leave for training in Texas on April 19, then deploy to north-central Kuwait three months later.

Major Gen. Larry Shellito is the adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard. At a send-off ceremony in Montevideo he noted how supporting the troops was a community effort.

The troops' duties are expected to include escorting convoys in Iraq. They're scheduled to return to Minnesota in April 2010.

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Information from: West Central Tribune, http://www.wctrib.com

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