GEORGETOWN, S.C. —    A rousing sendoff for the troops took place Wednesday, when members of the 178th Field Artillery left for Afghanistan.

Troops departed from National Guard Armories in Andrews and Georgetown at noon and 3 p.m., respectively.

Residents gathered along North Fraser Street and S.C. 521 in Georgetown, waving flags as the buses carry the troops drove out of town.

Motorcycle escort

Motorcycle riders in the group Lowcountry Thunder joined in the escort.

The group has been raising money for the Pillows for Patriots program, which provides a pillow for deploying soldiers.

Ginger Goude, a Georgetown resident who has relatives in the battalion, has also started an e-mail and Facebook campaign, encouraging support from now until the troops return.

“Let's give them our support and show we care,” she said. “If you have a business, put a yellow ribbon on the front door,” she asks. “Tie a yellow ribbon on your vehicle antenna and around a tree in your yard. Don’t' take these ribbons down until they come home safely.”

Continuing efforts

The guard troops are also receiving pillows, which were purchased with contributions from county residents.

Other residents are knitting “hats for heroes,’’ which are soft caps meant to be worn underneath heavy helmets.

Members of the motorcycle group, Lowcountry Thunder, recently held a poker run to raise money for Pillows for Patriots.

Riders from throughout the Grand Strand gathered in November and raised $3,500 to purchase the pillows.

Continuing support

After the troops are gone, the Georgetown Fire Department will crank up a program called “Share with a Soldier,” Johnson stated in an e-mail.

“It's a program designed to provide our troops with snacks and personal items that they will not be able to get when they get to Afghanistan.

Our troops will be serving in a forward area that will not have access to military stores.  We are actively supporting the Family Support Group to collect these items.

“We already have more than 160 boxes of snacks, cookies, crackers and cereal bars.  We'll give these items to the Audra and the FSG for the first shipment to our troops in February.”

Different towns

Nearly 200 of the soldier who will be leaving Wednesday are from the Georgetown area. Others are from Hemingway, Myrtle Beach, Manning and Clinton.

The deployment is expected to last nearly ten months, according to Lt. Col. Ed McInnis.

If that timetable holds, the troops will be home in time for the 2010 holiday season.

This will be the second for many in the unit, following a 2004 deployment to Iraq and Kuwait.

At a gathering of the troops last month, State Sen. Yancey McGill praised the guardsmen, calling them personal heroes and “some of the greatest patriots in the United States of America.”

“Don’t think we won’t be thinking about you while you are gone, because we will every day,” McGill said. “It will feel really good when you come home. We will have the greatest celebration.”

By Kelly M. Fuller and Scott Harper