The S.C. Army National Guard’s Apache helicopter battalion will deploy to Iraq this summer.

Guard leaders and family members will say goodbye to the about 500 soldiers at a departure ceremony Sunday at the Army aviation facility at McEntire Joint National Guard Base. It begins at 9 a.m.

The 1/151st Attack Reconnaissance Battalion and its AH-64 helicopters will first go to Fort Hood, Texas, to make final preparations for deployment to Iraq.

They are expected to return home in about one year.

-- Jeff Wilkinson