PRESQUE ISLE – When Brent Boyles was deployed for Grenada just before his son’s second birthday, it never occurred to him that his little boy would do just about the same thing when he grew up.

But Col. Boyles, who once served with the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and now is the commander of the Maine Army National Guard’s 52nd Troop Command, took it all in stride as he watched his son, Pfc. Brad Boyles, leave on his own deployment Thursday.

Pfc. Boyles was among six National Guardsmen with the 1st Battalion, 152nd Field Artillery, who caught a flight out of Northern Maine Regional Airport in Presque Isle at 6:30 a.m. for Fort Sill, Okla.

There, the men will join 18 members of their unit – who left by car on Sunday – in teaching troops about artillery support.

The younger Boyles is leaving behind his fiancee and their three children, the youngest of whom is 12 weeks old.

“You get a different perspective when you have your own son as one of the soldiers being deployed,” Col. Boyles said early Thursday morning.

“It’s hard to deploy soldiers as it is, but when you deploy your own son …,” he said, trailing off and looking soberly toward the waiting area where about 30 family members and friends had gathered to bid farewell to the soldiers. “Well, at least they’re not going to a combat zone. That makes it a little easier.”

Instead, the men will be training many soldiers who later will be sent to Iraq. Their specialty, according to a battalion member, is computing data so troops will know where to aim a Howitzer or other artillery. The men have known about their one-year deployment for nearly a month.

“It’s a help because of other deployments,” Staff Sgt. Stephen Waugh of the battalion explained of the soldiers’ mission to Oklahoma. “Other instructors have had to deploy overseas, so these men are coming in to help with the trainees.”

It’s a hard thing to go, Pfc. Boyles said early Thursday morning, but the soldiers know they have important work to do.

“The Army looked through the entire nation to see who would do the best job, and out of everyone who could be deployed, we got the job,” Boyles said. “So we’ll take it and we’ll take it with pride. We’re going to miss our families, but it’s our job to do these things.”

“It’s a privilege,” agreed Sgt. Scott Larson, a longtime National Guardsman who also is being deployed. “And while part of you wants to go and part of you wants to stay, it’s our job and we’re proud to do it.”

As Boyles, Larson and the other soldiers prepared to board their plane, family and friends gave hugs, waved flags and wiped away their tears. A little girl pressed her lips to the glass that divided the waiting area from the boarding area to give her daddy one last kiss goodbye. Area VFW members stood back from the small crowd, watching the men leave. Earlier in the morning, VFW officials gave the men $165 worth of calling cards so they could stay in contact with their families.

After everyone had boarded the plane and those in the crowd were waiting to wave their final goodbyes, airport officials brought out de-icing equipment.

“That makes me so nervous,” said Rhonda Lister, mother of Spc. Ryan Lister. “It’s not a good way to start off the trip.”

Lister and her husband, Terry, said it was hard to say goodbye, even though their son is just going to Oklahoma. And while they aren’t fearing for his survival, they say they are still worried.

“It’s that worry you have all the time if you have kids: Anything can happen,” Rhonda Lister said.