Families and friends will bid farewell to approximately 200 members of the Wisconsin Air National Guard’s Madison-based 115th Fighter Wing. Send-offs are scheduled for Thursday [Sept 17] at 5 p.m. and Saturday [Sept 19] at 10:00 a.m. at the Wisconsin Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters, 2400 Wright St., Madison.

Immediately afterwards, the Airmen will depart as part of an aviation package deployment which includes F-16 fighter aircraft, pilots, aircraft maintenance specialists and support personnel. While the personnel package will be departing on Thursday, the F-16’s are expected to depart early next week. Residents can expect to hear noise generated from aircraft departures between the hours of midnight and 6 a.m. It should be noted that take-off times are designed to correlate with specified arrival times at their destination.

The approximately two-month long deployment is part of the wings scheduled Air Expeditionary Force rotation. The 115th has previously deployed their aviation package in support of Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom in December, 2004 to Qatar, and June 2006 and January 2008 to Iraq. Their mission is to support ground forces in Iraq with close air support and other combat capabilities directed by the combatant commander.

The 115th Fighter Wing Airmen are continually deploying around the world. This deployment cycle will require more than 300 Airmen to deploy in support of the global war on terror.

EDITORS NOTE: This event is not open to the general public.