OTTUMWA — With the roar of a motorcycle escort, the buses carrying the 833rd Engineer Company were gone.

“What lies ahead is in large measure unknown to us and unknown to those who serve,” said military Chaplain Jim Luder during a Sunday send-off ceremony for the latest Iowa National Guard unit to ship off to Iraq.

“We just did this a couple years ago,” said another speaker, Brig. Gen. Mark Zirkelbach, the deputy adjutant general of the Iowa National Guard, talking about the time — over a year — this unit had already spent in Iraq. “Here we are a year-and-a-half later calling them back again.”

These soldiers, and their families, are real patriots, and especially prove that during tough times like this. Because there do exist citizens who are patriots only when it’s easy to be one, he said.

“I don’t see any ‘summertime soldiers’... in this formation. Everybody here understands what patriotism means,” he said. “Thank you for being the role models we are looking for.”

The number of people in attendance, said Lt. Col. Greg Hapgood — over a thousand to see off 120 troops — showed incredible support.

The main point of the ceremony, said Hapgood before the buses pulled out, is that soldiers see the support from friends and families, but also people they may have never met who show up to show their appreciation.

This was a day the soldiers could see, he said, “we care about you guys... not politics. Not whether we should be in Iraq. We’re here for you.”

Rep. Dave Loebsack echoed those sentiments after the ceremony.

“I’d rather we not be there, but we are there,” he told the Courier.

He said there is no contradiction in not wanting a war in Iraq but caring about our troops; these are the people being sent to fight that war.

“I’m here to support them,” he said as he went to talk to individual soldiers.

When he spoke at the podium, he pledged his support to the members of the 833rd and their families.

“Contact me if there are any services or resources my office can provide,” Loebsack said. “I look forward to welcoming you home.”

Another promise of support came when Iowa’s executive director of Veterans Affairs, Patrick Palmersheim, read a statement from Gov. Chet Culver.