EAST POINT, Ga. -- Members of a metro Atlanta Army Reserve unit left home Thursday for a one-year deployment to Iraq.

The families of the nearly 40 soldiers with the 335th Signal Command said goodbye to their loved ones as they departed from East Point, Ga.

The soldiers were issued their weapons and then loaded onto buses destined to Mississippi for 30 days of training.

The detachment's commanding officer is CBS46's own meteorologist, Capt. Greg Majewski.

"This morning was when it really started hitting home," Majewski said. "The realization that you're going to be away from your family for a year, and be away from your job and everything else."

Majewski's wife Julie and their two daughters were there to see him off. His daughters, Madeline and Ashley, said there is a lot they will miss about their dad while he is gone.

"That he gives me tickles," 6-year-old Madeline said. "Him tucking me into bed and driving me to school," 4-year-old Ashley said.

Sgt. Jeffrey Benoit was also among the soldiers headed overseas.

Benoit said it will be the furthest he has been apart from his fiancée, Yolanda Jackson.

"I'm trying to keep myself encouraged and built up," Jackson said. "But it's hard."

The soldiers are hoping they will get a 2-week break to come home right around Christmas.