LINDSAY A. MILLER / arizona daily star

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When Spc. Shannika Taylor woke up Sunday morning, she felt sick to her stomach.

"I thought 'Damn, it's really happening — I'm deploying,' " Taylor, 21, said.

In her 3 1/2 years with the U.S. Army, Taylor had never been sent to a war zone.

But on Sunday, that changed as Taylor boarded a plane at Fort Huachuca's Libby Army Airfield with 193 other soldiers from the 40th Signal Battalion.

Her husband, Spc. Tremayne Jones, wasn't deployed on Sunday. Instead, he'll leave today with 255 others.

The couple won't see each other for at least 15 months, which is when the 40th is scheduled to return to the U.S.

Taylor and Jones, along with their respective companies, are headed to different parts of Iraq, while others from the battalion are headed to Afghanistan

and Kuwait

.

"I'm sad that we're going to be separated," Taylor said. "Usually, they try to keep you together. I just wish we could be closer."

Together, Sunday's and today's departures make up the largest group of soldiers to deploy from Southern Arizona in years.

Normally, soldiers ship out in groups of 200 or less, said Eric Horton, a spokesman for the 9th Army Signal Command.

"I didn't think I was going to get deployed this early," said Pfc. Michael L. Dunston Jr. "But, I'm just happy to serve my country."

On Sunday, Dunston, 22, was sent off by his wife, Lakia and their 18-month-son, Malachi.

About 200 other civilians showed up at Libby Army Airfield to say goodbye to their men and women in uniform.

"I'm nervous. I'm sad. And, I'm proud of him," Lakia Dunston, 21, said of her husband. "He's a better man because of the Army. He's matured a lot, and he knows what's important in life now: family and God."

While separation from family isn't easy for any soldier, Spc. Kevon Clarke said the closeness of his company — Charlie Company 40th Expeditionary Signal Battalion — helps.

"Everybody in the company is a tightknit family," Clarke, 24, said. "For a lot of us, this is our first deployment, so we're a bit skeptical. Is it going to be a good experience? A bad experience? Are we going to be in dangerous situations? I mean, I'm going to war. Who wouldn't be a little skeptical going to war?"

But despite the skepticism that Clarke and many of his fellow Army men and women feel, he said they're ready to do their jobs.

"We all just hope to come home safe," he said.

Once in the Middle East, the Signal Battalion troops will be responsible for operating, installing and maintaining computer, communications and command-and-control networks for the U.S. Central Command.

They'll also be providing Internet services, satellite communication, phone lines and fiber-optic-cable installation and computer help-desk duties, Clarke said.

"Each job is very important," Clarke said. "Without any one of us doing what we do, the system fails."

Fred Smith served in the U.S. Army from 1985 to 1993.

His son-in-law, Spc. Maurice Muhle, will deploy to Iraq for the second time today.

"It's not as bad over there as everybody says it is," said Muhle, an Army mechanic.

"I fix anything that's got two wheels," he said.

Smith, along with his wife, Tara, flew from Montgomery, Texas, for the deployment.

"I was in (the Army) during Desert Storm, but my number never came up," Smith, 43, said. "I don't like it any more now than I did then, but deployment is kind of a part of life."

Tara Smith, 42, said the Army experience she and her husband have helps ease deployment for their daughter Constance and Muhle.

"The Army is a lot more family-oriented now," said Tara Smith. "A lot's changed in the last 15 years or so. They have e-mails and video chats now. We just had letters."

About 90 soldiers will be staying behind, assigned to make sure Army families are taken care of while their loved ones are away, said 1st Sgt. Printez Milburn.

Support groups, counseling and retreats with other Army families are now wartime objectives just like anything else, Milburn said. Rear detachment programs came about shortly after Desert Storm ended, he said.

"Whatever a family needs, we try to make sure they're taken care of," Milburn said. "Families can go to any Army base for the services we provide — and we even help them ship packages over and things like that."

A trip for families of the 40th to a resort and spa in Tucson is planned for March, he said.

On StarNet: See more images from the deployment at azstarnet.com/slideshows.