48th BCT Starts Mission with Send Off at Stewart

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May 14, 2005 -- Bands played, soldiers marched and wives, mothers, children and friends cried Saturday as the 48^th Brigade Combat Team was given a formal send off ceremony at Fort Stewart , Ga. The unit, more than 4,000 strong, headed for its year long mission to Iraq .

Dignitaries, including Governor Sonny Perdue, Georgia’s Adjutant General, Maj. Gen. David B. Poythress and First Army Commander, Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré, and Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson, joined the thousands of relatives who watched the Brigade on parade.

Gov. Perdue praised the assembled troops for their courage and later presented Brig. Gen. Stewart Rodeheaver, commander of the 48^th, with a Georgia flag to accompany his unit to Iraq .

Maj. Gen. Poythress, who as Adjutant General oversees Georgia ’s National Guard, told the troops that theirs was "an historic mission" and wished the men and women of the 48^th “God Speed”. He added that the Guard would look after their families while they were gone.

This is the largest deployment of Georgia Guardsmen to a combat zone since World War II. The 48th was mobilized during Desert Storm in 1990, and sent to the National Training Center to prepare for the desert warfare, but the conflict concluded before the unit could be deployed.

Lt. Gen. Honoré few words received the loudest cheers as he declared the 48^th “ready to fight!” “They set training records . . . they fired more ammunition than any brigade I’ve ever seen.”

Brig. Gen. Rodeheaver, acknowledging the salutes and praise of families and dignataries declared that the 48th "is the best unit I've ever worked with . . we promise you we will do you proud!"

Following the formal ceremony, the Brigade members and their families were given approximately 90 minutes say final farewells before troops reported to their barracks to prepare for deployment.

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