Every time their nation has needed them, Fort Dodge based soldiers of the Iowa Army National Guard have left their families and jobs to respond.

So on Sunday afternoon, exactly three years after they started a mission in Kosovo, those soldiers stood in formation during a ceremony in Fort Dodge marking their upcoming deployment for another task.

Afghanistan is the next overseas destination for the members of Headquarters and Headquarters Battery, 1st Battalion, 194th Field Artillery. There they will train the Afghan army and national police, according to Brig. Gen. Timothy Orr, the adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard. Orr said the troops will also conduct humanitarian missions.

During the ceremony, Orr said the soldiers' work will ''contribute to that country's long-term success and ultimately, America's security.''

''All Iowans thank you,'' Gov. Chet Culver said to the troops during the event at the Iowa Army National Guard Readiness Center attended by about 200 people.

''We pray for your safe deployment and swift return,'' Culver added.

Culver and Orr presented an Iowa flag for the unit to fly in Afghanistan.

''We couldn't be prouder to call you our Iowans, our heroes,'' Fort Dodge City Councilwoman Margy Halverson-Collins said. ''We will be here to rejoice on your return.''

Letters of support from U.S. senators Chuck Grassley, a Republican, and Tom Harkin, a Democrat, were read during the event.

While the soldiers were the focus of attention Sunday afternoon, Orr said their families will also be making sacrifices during the yearlong deployment.

''Many times the hard work is here at home,'' he said.

The family of Staff Sgt. R.J. Higgins, of Fort Dodge, is one of the many which will face the kind of hard work the general mentioned. His mother, Gail Higgins, of Fort Dodge, said she has ''really very mixed emotions'' about him going to Afghanistan.

''It's what R.J. wants to do, so we stand by him and support him,'' she said. ''The rest we don't think about.''

The soldier and his fiancee, Chastity Branchcomb, of Des Moines, postponed their wedding until after he returns next year. Branchcomb said Sunday that she's proud of him and added that she's not worried about his safety.

The soldier's father, Bob Higgins, of Fort Dodge, said he was also proud. Bob Higgins said he is an Iowa Army National Guard veteran who worked in the same building where Sunday's ceremony was held.

There were no tearful farewells Sunday because the troops didn't march out of the building and board buses for the first leg of their journey to Afghanistan.

The majority of soldiers will go on active duty July 29, according to Capt. Matthew Guerttman. He said on July 30, they will travel to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for training. They will complete more training at Fort Irwin, Calif., before heading to Afghanistan in the fall.

On July 18, 2007, the unit went on active duty to become part of a peacekeeping force in the Balkan nation of Kosovo. They returned in July 2008.

From September 2002 to July 2003, the unit was on active duty for a homeland security mission. Its soldiers protected Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Michigan, Lima Army Tank Plant in Ohio and Newport Chemical Depot in Indiana.

A small detachment of the battalion's soldiers served in Iraq from 2005 to 2006. One of the unit's soldiers, Sgt. Gregory Tull, was killed by an improvised explosive device during that deployment.

Contact Bill Shea at (515) 573-2141 or bshea@messengernews.net