Sam Dean | The Roanoke Times

Staff Sgt. Ralph Hendricks kisses his son Brandon goodbye Monday as his three daughters, Ballie (left), Shannon and Harlie wait their turn following a departure ceremony at the Virginia National Guard Armory in Roanoke. Hendricks' unit is being deployed to Iraq.

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• See more images of Company E of the 429th Brigade Support Battalion as they say goodbye to their families and friends.

Tatumn Harlow sobbed.

He stood at the curb while the buses carrying his father and the other citizen-soldiers pulled away from the Roanoke armory Monday -- the start of a long journey to Iraq.

Then he walked over to a shade tree. He put his hands on his knees. He stared at the ground.

His tears plopped in the grass and his shoulders shuddered and he cried hard, a little boy with freckles whose father had gone away.

"He's just 7," said his stepmother, Tina Harlow, crying herself.

More than 600 people gathered for a departure ceremony for the 429th Brigade Support Battalion's Company E, based in Roanoke.

The 108 soldiers were joined by another 64 from South Boston-based Company A, which had its departure ceremony Sunday.

The transportation units will spend about two months training at Camp Atterbury, Ind., before deploying to Iraq for nearly a year.

Their mission, which is part of President Bush's troop buildup, will be to drive tractor-trailers, gun trucks and other vehicles in supply convoys.

The soldiers and their families have known for several months that the Iraq deployment was coming, so they have had time to get their affairs in order -- their jobs, classes, relationships, wills.

They gathered at 1 p.m. for the ceremony in the old armory. Lunch was served. An Army band played in the corner.

Dignitaries spoke of God and country and family, of toughness and compassion, of completing their mission and coming home safely -- which elicited the loudest "Hoo-ah" from the ranks, a warrior's affirmation.

It was a scene that's been repeated scores of times since Sept. 11, 2001, when Virginia National Guardsmen started yearlong deployments in Afghanistan, and since March 2003, when they also began going to Iraq.

Southwest and central Virginia have no military bases, but it is a place where for centuries families have sent their loved ones off to war.

Since 2001, more than 3,000 National Guardsmen and reservists and thousands more active-duty troops from Southwest and central Virginia have served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

At Monday's ceremony, the soldiers snapped to attention on the armory's shiny old floor -- a varied lot of men and women, white and black, teenagers and middle-aged citizens, all clad in pale green camouflage.

A baby babbled happily in the sudden silence before the colors were presented -- the flags of the United States, Virginia and Company E carried forward by Patrick Henry High School ROTC students.

The national anthem was played. Then the soldiers stood at ease and listened to an Army chaplain's invocation.

"Lord, you know who we are and you know our destiny," he said. "We will be victorious by the blood of your name ... Thank you for your grace and your love."

Maj. Gen. Robert Newman, the adjutant general of Virginia, gave them a Virginia flag to fly at their camp in Iraq, a bit of commonwealth history for a unit that traces its heritage to the Stonewall Brigade.

Then the band played "The Army Goes Rolling Along" and the soldiers got a final 10 minutes to say goodbye to their families.

"My family's 100 percent behind me," said Staff Sgt. Ralph Hendricks, 40, a Desert Storm veteran from Amherst.

Staff Sgt. Edward Pierce of Courtland has been in the Guard for 28 years but never in combat.

"I'm nervous but excited," he said. "It's been a long time coming."

The mood around the armory was at times emotional, but there was also a sense of business as usual.

Many of the soldiers have already done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan -- signified by their shoulder Velcro combat patches -- so they and their families aren't unprepared for uncertainty, waiting and worry.

"Unfortunately, deployments have become commonplace," said Lt. Col. Chester Carter, a Guard spokesman. "It's the reality of the world we live in. It's not getting any easier."

Wendy Clark's brother, Staff Sgt. Woody Clark of Winchester, served in Desert Storm, but it didn't ease her mind.

"I'm lost," she said, tearfully.

Tina Harlow hugged her stepson, Tatumn, as they watched her husband, Staff Sgt. Scott Harlow, 36, ride away. He had served in Desert Storm but was feeling guilty about not having gone yet to Iraq or Afghanistan.

"It's a sinking feeling," she said. "I don't know how else to say it."

When the buses departed, people had little American flags and damp tissues in their hands, which they waved and waved until the buses were gone.

A Roanoke police escort led the convoy out of town.

Out front was police Officer Jacob Hawkins, a former Guardsman who served in Afghanistan in 2004.

"I've got three buddies" in Company E, he said. "It's kind of strange seeing it from this side."