Members of Georgia’s Company H, 171st Aviation Regiment, and their eight C-23C Sherpa cargo planes left Feb. 27 for Southwest Asia to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom. Exactly from where the unit will carry out its missions is not yet known.

Headquartered at Marietta’s Dobbins Air Reserve Base, The Georgia aviators are one of four C-23 detachments. The other three are located at Brooksville, Fla., Frankfort, Ky., and Austin, Texas.

Assigned to the Georgia detachment is Maj. John D. Boyer of Marietta; Chief Warrant Officer 4 Gary K. Button of Lawrenceville; Chief Warrant Officer 4 Douglas G. Gahring of Newnan; Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jerry Baker II of Suwanee; Chief Warrant Officer Darrell R. Wagner of Acworth; Staff Sgt. Thomas J. Rigg of Cleveland; Staff Sgt. Michael A. Quinones of Dallas; Sgt. Harold A. Rape of McDonough; and Sgt. Matthew E. Muse of Marietta.

The unit expects to be gone for at least a year.

After being mobilized Dec. 7, 2003, the elements of Company H came together at Fort Campbell, Ky., where it trained for upcoming operations. Once the unit was validated "ready for war" by the Army, it deployed to Groton, Conn., where its aviators and crews continued their tactical flight training. During that time, the Sherpas were fitted with special equipment to help their pilots evade enemy attack.