NATCHEZ — When the National Guard’s 1st Battalion 155th Brigade leaves the Natchez armory Monday, they’ll be leaving friends and family behind for a very different world.

They’re going to Iraq.

For the past months, the battalion has been in training in preparation for their deployment.

National Guard Sgt. Lance Wilkerson, of Roxie, will be joining the 1,000-member battalion on his first tour of duty.

“I’m a little nervous and a little excited,” Wilkerson said. “It’s a pretty big mobilization.”

Once deployed, the 400-day tour will have the battalion guarding valuable supply routes in Iraq.

“Anything the soldiers need to live, we need to secure the routes for it to get to them,” he said. “It’s going to be a lot of work.”

But it’s work that Wilkerson and his fellow soldiers are looking forward to.

While the war has been going on since 2003, Wilkerson said he believes some people have just forgotten the war is still going on.

“It’s been a long time,” he said. “Now, I’m glad to get to do my part. I’m glad to get to do something for my country, and I’d rather have to fight over there than to do it over here.”

And to make the battalion’s last moments in Natchez memorable, there’s a little celebration in the works.

Natchez Community Development Director Darlene Jones has organized a send-off party to line the road near the armory as the battalion heads out of town.

“We just want to do something special for them,” she said. “They’re going over there for us, and it’s the least we can do.”

Jones is hoping city and county residents will line the streets from the armory down Liberty Road to Sergeant S. Prentiss Boulevard all the way to U.S. 61 South to the U.S. 84 exit.

“We want people out there with signs and banners and honking their horns and blinking their lights,” Jones said. “These people are going to give up their lives and their families for us. They need to know we care about them.”

Monday’s edition of The Democrat will include a pull-out American flag that can be used by those lining the streets.

The battalion leaves at 9 a.m., and Jones said those planning on seeing the troops of should line up at approximately 8:30 a.m.