SLIDESHOW

With salutes, hugs and tears, 15 Virginia Army National Guard soldiers left Richmond yesterday on their way to duty in Afghanistan.

The Guardsmen will serve as mentors to a 1,500-member Afghan National Army brigade.

"You're all volunteers, you're the cream of the crop," Maj. Gen. Robert B. Newman Jr., the state's top military commander, told the departing soldiers. "You're going forward to help a struggling nation . . . and by doing so

Newman spoke at a short official farewell ceremony with family and friends at the Virginia Army Guard armory in Sandston early yesterday.

Fifteen members of Command Sgt. Maj. Henry Motley's family came from Danville to see him off: wife, mother, brothers, sisters, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law children and a grandchild.

"I'm going to miss him," said Motley's wife, Cynthia.

"It's tough for me and for the baby, but I support him," said Fernanda Pacheco of Quantico, whose husband, Sgt. 1st Class Patrick Pacheco, is the training team's first sergeant and senior infantryman.

This will be the 50-year-old Pacheco's second combat deployment. His 2-year-old son, Edgar, was born while he was in Iraq.

"I'm not worried," Sgt. Pacheco said. "We'll just have to rely on our training and our battle buddies to 'watch our six'" -- to guard their backs.

The group is made up of veteran enlisted soldiers and officers. About half have combat experience, said Col. Mike Harris, the team's commander. "These guys have been handpicked," Newman noted.

"I feel . . . confident this group will meet the challenge and do well," said Harris, a Campbell County school teacher in civilian life.

The key to the mission's success, Harris told his soldiers, will be to "do the right things, do those things right, and do them all the time."

Before deploying to Afghanistan, the Guardsmen will spend about two months at Fort Riley, Kan., doing additional preparation for the mission.

The Virginians have been mobilized for an expected 13 months on active duty. A 16th soldier will join the team later, Harris said.

About 200 Virginia Army and Air National Guard soldiers and airmen are serving overseas now.