WORCESTER, Mass. - Soldiers and their families celebrated at a send-off ceremony Tuesday ahead of the Massachusetts Army National Guard's 1st Battalion, 181st Infantry Regiment's deployment to the Middle East.

"I feel sad, but at the same time I feel excited and nervous for this experience and journey I'm about to go on," said Junia Gauvin, a member of the regiment.

Gauvin has never been deployed overseas for military service.

"This is a new chapter, a new beginning," she said. "I'm really up for it. It's something I've always wanted to do, have a deployment under my belt. It's not a goodbye, definitely a see you later."

Soldiers are being deployed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, which the National Guard describes as "targeted operations to defeat ISIS."

Gauvin and company fly out Sunday. Her loved ones said while they're nervous, they have a great sense of pride.

"It's fun to see and it's beautiful to watch someone who you know when you were young grow up to have this big responsibility," said her friend Brianna Batard-Pierre. "So, I want to be there for her as much as I can."

"I'm proud of her because a lot of people would've quit by now," said Gauvin's brother Gerald Jean Charles. "She stuck through it. It has been a couple years. Yeah, a lot of people quit, so it ain't nothing easy."

While a first for some, others are in a different mindset. Major Doug Patterson has served overseas before, but leaving this time is a bit more difficult.

"We have a great support system here, family support system," he said. "So, just keep them distracted and try to keep in touch as best we can."

"I'm just so used to the grind," said Patterson's wife, Deb. "It is the first time our daughter's going to be experiencing it. So, we'll see what happens."

Soldiers will be on deployment for roughly a year. After years of training, many, like Gauvin, feel they're ready for their turn to serve.

"The days are just counting down and coming closer and closer," Gauvin said. "So, it's like, I'm getting antsy. There's times where I'll outburst cry and there's times I'm just smiling and happy to go. It's a lot of emotions going on. It's a lot."