The Delaware Army National Guard is hosting a departure ceremony for the 3-238th Aviation Company at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 28 at the Delaware Air National Guard Airbase.

There, 72 soldiers – both ground and air crew members – will say farewell to family and friends, then board UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and take off for a one-year deployment. The unit departs for Fort Sill, Okla., where it will spend time on mission and country-specific training. It will be in Southwest Asia by January and should return in a year.

The ceremony is being held at an Air National Guard base while the Army Aviation Support Facility undergoes improvements.

The unit, which deployed to Iraq in 2005, is typically assigned the task of moving people and equipment and providing command of control of airlift and air assault missions. About half of the unit’s members have deployed at least once.

“These are some of the finest aviators, crew members, maintainers, and ground support professionals in Army aviation,” said Maj. Gen. Frank Vavala, adjutant general of the Delaware National Guard. “They are in a dangerous, crucial business and they do it efficiently and they do it safely.”