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WEST JORDAN — Brittany Grimshaw's husband is with the Utah National Guard's 159th Aviation Regiment, so she has said goodbye to her husband before.
"The first three months you just sit there curled up in a ball crying," Brittany Grimshaw said.
Saturday, she had to say goodbye to her husband, 1st Lt. William Grimshaw.
"The fact he's away from us for a year and putting his life on the line to go help people over there, if people don't even know why he's doing it, it's a waste," Brittany Grimshaw said.
Seventeen soldiers on this team are going to Afghanistan. Their mission is to fly Blackhawk helicopters to where injured soldiers are, load them in, then fly to a hospital as quickly as possible.
"We train to take care of soldiers on their worst day," William Grimshaw said.
The family has known about this day for a year, but sometimes, hugs are not enough.
"I'll wipe your tears if you wipe mine," Brittany said to her daughters, 9-year old Ciara and 7-year old Fallon.
Before taking off in the helicopters at the Utah Army National Guard base at the South Valley Airport in West Jordan, soldiers showed their families the inside of the blackhawks and all the gear they will be carrying.
It gave them time for one last picture, one last kiss and one last goodbye.
"All right, all kids back off. He's mine," Brittany said with a laugh as she held her husband before he boarded the helicopter.
As the three blackhawks took off, more than a hundred family members and friends of the soldiers watched and waved goodbye.
"They know when he leaves, because he's medevac, he is going to save people and to rescue people" Brittany said of her kids. "So it makes me a little bit easier to accept where he's going."
The soldiers are flying to Texas where they will do more training and load the helicopters into large airplanes.
From there, they fly to Afghanistan for their year-long deployment.
