1st BCT soldiers prepare to deploy

FORT DRUM — Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team cased the unit's colors Tuesday morning during a ceremony held in the gymnasium of the Magrath Sports Complex.

The casing — rolling and covering — of its flags formally marks a unit's departure, and the ritual was part of how Fort Drum will send off the brigade's approximately 3,500 soldiers to a yearlong deployment in Afghanistan.

About 600 of the brigade's soldiers, members of its 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, departed in January, as part of President Barack Obama's escalation of the war effort that will add 30,000 troops to the country over the next several months. The rest of the brigade will deploy in late March and early April.

The soldiers will bolster troop numbers under several regional commands in Afghanistan, 1st Brigade Commander Col. Willard M. Burleson said following the ceremony. They will join other U.S. troops in the country in training and working alongside Afghan security forces to protect the civilian population and fight the insurgency.

It wasn't quite real yet to Cassie N. Carroll, 19, who tried to identify her husband, Pvt. John D. Carroll, from the bleachers before the ceremony. Both from Orange County, Calif., the two were married in November. The deployment would be a first for them both.

Pvt. Carroll wasn't doing much talking about the upcoming deployment, his wife said, and, though nervous, she was trying not to do much thinking about it. She said she plans to move back to California to take classes and work while her husband is deployed.

Staff Sgt. Jonathan Parrish, a chaplain's assistant with the brigade, held onto his squirming daughter, Emma, almost 2. Beside him on the bleachers, his wife, Carrie Parrish, pregnant with their second child, spoke about how the family was preparing for the deployment.

There were the practical things — Sgt. Parrish had filled a notebook with all kinds of information his wife might need to take care of household tasks in his absence. The couple gave Emma a book full of photos of her father and a "daddy bear," a plush toy that includes a recording of Sgt. Parrish's voice, to provide her some comfort while he's away.

But spiritual preparation was important, too.

"We're just praying a lot and handing it over to God," Sgt. Parrish said.