160 Utah soldiers depart on year-long mission to Middle East


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SALT LAKE CITY — Nearly 200 Utah soldiers boarded a plane in Salt Lake City Sunday afternoon. Their destination: The Middle East.

This is the largest and longest deployment for the Utah Army National Guard this year.

One-hundred sixty soldiers from the 116th Engineer Company said goodbye to their families and friends and hello to a 12- month mission abroad. Weeping sounds filled the air at Roland Wright Air base.

Sgt. Cuyler Stoker had known this time would come eventually.

"I joined in October of '09, so six years now," he said.

Sgt. Cuyler Stoker said, "With the Utah Guard there is always a lot of rumors that there'll be deployments. This one actually came up."

This is Stoker's first deployment, the first time he's leaving his wife and six children.

Photo: Mark Wetzel/KSL-TV
Photo: Mark Wetzel/KSL-TV

"The hardest thing will be this, not being here with these guys," he said of his family. "I think I'm still a little bit in denial about how long a year is."

His wife, Katie, said she'll just have to learn to stay strong for her family while he's away.

"The hardest part is going to be to know how much the kids are going to miss him. It's going to be a struggle for them," she said.

Sunday they struggled to find the words to say goodbye as her solider, and nearly 200 others, set off on their year-long mission.


The hardest part is going to be to know how much the kids are going to miss him.

–Katie Stoker, soldier's wife


"Many are under the misconceptions that the wars are done. But for the families of these soldiers that deployed today, the sacrifice is real and their mission is an important one," another soldier said.

The soldiers will spend two months at Fort Bliss, Texas before flying to Kuwait. They will work all over that region, as well as in Afghanistan and Iraq, rebuilding bases and roads to help stabilize and develop those nations.

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