EASTOVER, S.C. — Being away from family is never easy, no matter the distance.
Some members of our military community and their families regularly sacrifice in the name of service. On Saturday, in Eastover, there was a deployment ceremony for about 40 guardsmen and women heading to D.C. for a mission.
"My father was in the navy during World War Two, his father was in the army during World War Two, also," Virginia Price said.
It runs in the family for the Prices.
"This is his third deployment. He had two to Iraq before this, and all of them are hard. You know, even though he'll be in the United States, it's still hard because he has to leave his family," Virginia and Steven Price said of their son, Colonel Ryan Price.
"My father was a Marine serving in Vietnam. So service has just been a calling really since I came into my own," Colonel Ryan Price said.
Price is a commander of Task Force Bulldog, part of the 678th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, which was honored in a deployment ceremony Saturday at McEntire Joint National Guard Base.
The task force is headed to the U.S. Capitol Region to ensure safety.
"Twenty-four hours, seven days a week, zero defect mission that allows our national leadership freedom to maneuver from the threat of another event like 9/11," a commander at the ceremony said.
These soldiers will be in the northeast protecting the nation. But Task Force Bulldog said this effort will need more than the deployed soldiers.
"This is a family business and it's an honor to be able to serve with the family members that we have," Colonel Price said.
Like Captain Jessica Heyward's son Karter, family members make sacrifices with their soldiers.
"It feels great to have a mom that's like this and it feels super great," he said.
Task Force Bulldog is assisting with a homeland defense mission.