HARTFORD – Hundreds of Connecticut Air National Guard members are getting ready for deployment, but first they were part of a special sendoff ceremony at the William A. O’Neill Armory.
Over the next month, 100 members of the Connecticut Air National Guard’s 103rd Air Control Squadron will deploy to the Middle East in support of operations in that region.
“I’m brand new, so I just got trained this year and I’m ready to go,” said Airman First Class Corey Martovich, a surveillance technician from Oxford.
Connecticut military leaders were joined by Gov. Dannel Malloy, Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman and Sen. Richard Blumenthal at the ceremony to thank them and their families for their service.
They will be gone for at least six months, and are leaving right before the holidays.
“As a first deployment, they're concerned and obviously sad, especially for the holidays to miss me going away. But I tell them that they're in good hands. The unit takes care of us. The military takes care of us, so everything will go well,” said Staff Sgt. Edward Clark, a weapons director from Naugatuck.
This ceremony is the first of two sendoffs of Connecticut Air National Guard personnel. Another 300 Airmen are set to deploy to the Middle East over the next few months, marking the largest deployment of Connecticut National Guard troops since 2011.
