BANGOR – Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Jessica Wing transferred to Maine six months ago to be closer to her family.

In the back of her mind, the helicopter mechanic knew she would be needed in operations abroad, but she thought it would be a year or two before she would be deployed again. She had been mobilized three times in the last 10 years, once to Haiti and twice to Bosnia.

Mobilization came quicker than expected.

Wing and four others with Company G, 126th Aviation Intermediate Maintenance Detachment 2 left Bangor early Friday morning for Fort Dix in New Jersey, where they will be readied for deployment elsewhere, most likely in Iraq or Kuwait.

They are the mechanics who make sure that the UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters run properly, something that takes on even more importance in light of the dangerous areas the pilots now fly into.

Having gone through this three times before, Wing appeared calm and casual at a brief ceremony held for those being deployed and the families they leave behind.

But she acknowledged that even with her experiences – in Bosnia landmines could be found everywhere, including on the military post – there are some things you can’t get used to. It’s the uncertainty of the unknown.

“It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve been deployed, once or 100 times, it’s all the same,” she said. “You don’t know what you’re getting into.”

Spc. David Rowe, 21, of Houlton volunteered for the assignment when the military decided that five members of Company G, which includes members from Connecticut and Puerto Rico, would come from Maine.

Those eligible for deployment in Maine included some with new families, so Rowe, who has no wife or children, decided he should go in their stead.

“I figured I might as well,” he said matter-of-factly.

He, too, is a little anxious about what will happen, but plans to bring one of the things he loves most about Maine with him, modified for the change of environment.

An avid snowboarder, Rowe has taken up skateboarding in anticipation that wherever he’s going, there won’t be snow. Packed among his clothing and gear were two skateboards.

“There’s no snow over there, so I’ve picked [skateboarding] up,” he said.

For the Guard members being deployed, recent weeks and days were spent with families.

“I’m going to miss everybody a lot,” said Pfc. Sam Lagoy, 18, of Milo, whose family includes eight sisters, six brothers and five nieces and nephews. Most of them were present to see him off in Hangar B at the Army Aviation Support Facility in Bangor.

As a way to help keep him in touch with his big family, Lagoy bought a laptop computer.

Specialist David Spaulding, 30, of Dexter, another full-time guardsman and a veteran of two deployments, is leaving behind a wife and 21/2-year-old son Aidan, who happily played in the pilot’s seat of a Blackhawk helicopter, the kind his father fixes and maintains.

Big families or small, the five – including Pfc. Kenneth Larrabee of West Paris – are leaving behind loved ones, Maj. Gen. Bill Libby, Maine’s adjutant general said. He stressed that message in both his speech before those gathered and as he met with each soldier leaving, individually.

“You’re not the only people making a sacrifice in this deployment,” Libby said, a Blackhawk helicopter behind him. “I want you to remember that on a daily basis.”

Back home, people like Mikee Spaulding will have to make do without her husband, although Libby said families won’t be left alone. The Maine National Guard has support services that can help fill in the gaps.

Stepping into the crowd that is Lagoy’s family, Libby sought to assuage concerns of both the departing soldier and his family.

“We’re going to take good care of him over there and we’re going to take good care of you,” he said.