Shaela Bresnan was all smiles Wednesday afternoon as she posed for pictures with friends and family.

“And she’ll be all smiles the next time we see her,” Ken Bresnan of Indianola said about his daughter, an Army Reserve second lieutenant deploying for Afghanistan.

Leaving on her first deployment was hard, Reservist Bresnan said, “but I’m excited to go, to do my job and make use of my training.”

She was among about 50 members of the 649th Regional Support Group from Cedar Rapids being deployed to provide management and support operations for Operation Enduring Freedom. After 15 to 30 of preparations, they will leave for a yearlong stint in Afghanistan. The last time the 649th deployed was in 2004 to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where they prepared other services members for overseas deployments.

It was Staff Sgt. Joseph Massey’s first deployment as a Reservist, but he’s a veteran of 10 active duty deployments.

“We’re proud to serve,” the Cedar Rapids Reservist said as he huddled with his wife, Kristen, and children after a public send-off at Xavier High School. “The example of service we give our children is important.”

That service is “the strength of our nation,” according to Brig. Gen. Karen Ledoux of the 103rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command. She said the soldiers’ uniforms “are a symbol of hope” to the nation and to people around the world.

The idea of “helping people who have no one else to help them” is one reason Master Sgt. Dan Gross of Waverly is on the mission. He could have retired after completing 20 years in the Reserves, but earlier this year signed on for another three years.

It’s the third time the Gross family has been through a deployment. “It’s something you never get used to,” Jill Gross said. “I just hope the year goes quickly and then they’ll all be back.”

The deployment will separate Bresnan from her elementary art students in Vinton where she just completed her first year of teaching. They wrote her letters.

“They ranged from ‘miss you’ to ‘have fun’ to ‘don’t die’ to ‘how cool is it to have a weapon,’” she said.

As they left for Afghanistan, Cedar Rapids Mayor Kay Halloran thanked the 649th for service closer to home during the June 2008 flood. “We owe you an immense gratitude,” she said.

More than 200 Iowa Army Reservists are deployed in Iraq and almost 100 in Afghanistan, according to a spokeswoman for the 103rd.