Soldiers from the 579th Engineer Detachment will leave Vicksburg Friday for their first deployment since the unit’s reactivation in 2007.

If  you go

The deployment ceremony for the 579th Engineer Detachment will be at 12:30 p.m. Friday at the Vicksburg District building on Clay Street.

Family, friends and soldiers from the Mississippi Valley Division, the Engineer Research and Development Center, the Vicksburg District and the Army Reserve 412th Theater Engineer Command are invited to say farewell to the team during a 12:30 p.m. ceremony at the Vicksburg District building, 4155 Clay St., detachment spokesman Mark Abueg said.

Scheduled to speak during the ceremony are Vicksburg Mayor Paul Winfield, Brig. Gen. Michael Walsh, commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division, and Col. Richard W. Dean, commander of 579th, Abueg said.

Dean, who assumed command of the detachment on March 1, will lead the team serving in Afghanistan for about year, Abueg said.

Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com