A Bennington woman is urging her neighbors to get up before dawn on Friday to help send off about 25 Vermont National Guard members to the Middle East. The soldiers are due to board a bus at 5:00 a.m. for a ride to Northfield. Later in the day, they will be flown to Mississippi for training before being sent overseas.
Mary Lou Albert says the soldiers will be doing their duty and so Vermonters should go out and wish them Godspeed and good luck.
The southern Vermont soldiers are among 600 National Guard members who have been called to active duty. They will perform security duties in the Middle East. Guard officials say they are not going to Iraq.