Commanding Officer Maj. James Fera said he and 15 others from the squadron will be departing for Kandahar in early April as part of the construction management organization.

 "That organization is responsible, as military construction engineers, for working with Afghans on development projects," he explained. "We come from construction backgrounds from communities and are moving to Afghanistan to enable communities there. That's really the mission."

 Maj. Fera said troops participating in the deployment come from three different areas which include Bridgewater, Pictou and Gander, Newfoundland.

 "We have three groupings of troops from each of the flights that I have in my squadron," he explained. "They are that spread out essentially, and so we'll have military families in each of those communities, as well, that will be waiting and wondering for their troops to come home.

 He said troops from both sexes ranging in age from early 20s to early 50s are being deployed in the mission, "so we have a good range of experience and youth in the group.

 "Overall, we have a good combination of logisticians and construction engineers who will deploy," said Maj. Fera, whose background lies in construction engineering. "We have carpenters, plumbing and heating technicians,electricians deploying. So the idea is, they'll work on projects with Afghans, teach them some basic skills and enable them with those skills in their communities."

 One of the troops who is deploying into Afghanistan for the first time is Capt. Kristy Mathisen of Bridgewater, a seven-and-a-half-year veteran of the Armed Forces.

 She said receiving word that she would be heading off for a six-month tour in Kandahar brought mixed emotions.

 "I was excited and looking forward to it, now the excitement is kind of going to nerves, just because it's getting closer," she explained, adding that the mounting numbers of Canadian casualties being experienced in the Afghan theatre does not play a part in her apprehension.

 "It's more the unknown. I hear the stories and I've talked to people, but there's a difference between learning it from a book and talking to people and knowing it yourself and experiencing it," she said. "It's like any kind of change that you approach. So a change in life, you're going to approach with some apprehension, too. If I move from here to the West Coast, I'm going to have some fear from that as well. It's just natural."

 Capt. Mathisen, a construction engineer with a background in civil engineering, said she chose to join the Armed Forces for "a myriad of reasons.

 "Mostly, I wanted to do something different, something exciting, something with travel, something where I felt I was making a difference," she said.

 Having had an opportunity to experience all those things during her stint with the military, is Capt. Mathisen interested in, perhaps, making a career of the Forces?

 "I'm not sure about that," she laughed. "There's a lot of things that I'd like to do and not all of it's possible in the military."

 Joining Maj. Fera and Capt. Mathisen as representatives of Lunenburg County during the squadron's Afghan deployment are Capt. Gary Silliker, Maste Warrant Officer Cpl. Chris Towler,Master Cpl. Don Ruston, Cpl. Mike Carver, Cpl. Everette Currie and Cpl. Shawn Stevens.