South Tulsa -
Families and loved ones of soldiers in Oklahoma's National Guard had a sendoff ceremony Saturday morning.
Hundreds gathered at ORU's Mabee center to send off the 200 soldiers.
The engineering battalion will be headed to Afghanistan.
The soldiers will join 800 others already there from other states.
Lt. Col. Jack Ritter of the Oklahoma National Guard says, "It makes them proud. They do this because they want to do it. It's just what soldiers do, but it's encouraging, heartwarming, to have the citizens you're protecting stand up and say thanks."
The last time this engineering battalion was deployed was when they went to Iraq in 2004.
This deployment will last about nine months.
