30 more soldiers with the Nevada Army National Guard's Aviation Unit left for Asia on Thursday morning.
While the pandemic made for a less traditional departing ceremony for the soldiers and their families, the sentiment for those involved was still there.
"These soldiers are great soldiers, their main mission overseas is to help save lives. They're a med evac unit, so with those medics and those pilots they're flying into harms way all the time, but they're actually saving peoples lives over there," says Brigadier General Michael K. Hanifan, Assistant Adjutant General.
"They're going to be going down range and they're going to be doing a rotation, because part of their unit is already there. So this is what the army does, they love to deploy, they love to train and they've been trapped on their shoulder. So this is a chance for us to say goodbye," Maj. Gen. Ondra L. Berry, The Adjutant General, for the State of Nevada said.
Adjutant General Berry says having a ceremony where loved ones can say goodbye to their soldiers, is essential even amid the pandemic.
"They will be gone for a period of time where they won't get a chance to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries, and see their young ones and see their loved ones. They're going to be away so the least we can do is send them off the right way," says Maj. Gen. Berry.
He says they put plans in place prior to the ceremony so that they would be following CDC guidelines.
They held the ceremony outside, everyone was required to wear a mask and social distance themselves.
Also, once the soldiers land overseas they will be in quarantine for 14 days.
For the soldiers who were honored on Thursday, having a ceremony to send them off and embrace their loved ones meant everything.
"I'm choked up, I couldn't ask for a better family to take care of my stuff back home and keep everything going for me, because the world doesn't stop where you left it -- it keeps going," Jonah Young, UH-60 Crew Chief, Nevada Army National Guard said.
It was also a very emotional day for their families.
"I'm going to cry so -- pride, extreme pride in my boy and all of these other soldiers. I have every faith that they will be safe, because that's just who they are, they take care of each other," says Kathy Jo Kidd, Jonah Young's Mom.
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