MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) – Scores of East Tennesseans turned out Thursday evening to wish a pair of Monroe County Sheriff’s deputies good luck as they get ready to deploy to Iraq.

Chief Deputy Bryan Graves and Deputy Sergeant Darian Goodman are both members of the Tennessee Army National Guard’s 253rd Military Police Company that is based in Lenoir City.

Both deputies are no stranger to service, and served a tour of duty together in Iraq nearly six years ago as members of the 278th Armored Combat Regiment. Their previous experiences in the War on Terrorism have taught them how hard a deployment can be on their loved ones.

“It's just the time away from home and missing family and friends,” said Goodman, a sergeant with the 253rd and Marine Corps veteran. “It gets kind of boring.”

Both admitted that communities like Madisonville really do step in and take care of loved ones while they are serving the nation.

“There are a lot of people back here that make everything work, you know, the families that take care of the bills,” said Graves, a staff sergeant with the 253rd. “We run the missions, do the job and then as long as everything is going fine back here, we do a pretty good job over there."

Thursday evening’s farewell party was held at the Monroe County Farm Bureau. It featured a live band and refreshments provided by the sheriff’s office.

Sheriff Bill Blevins had the party posted on MCSO Facebook page and both deputies said they only learned about the party after reading about it in the paper.

“It really lets us know we have a support base,” said Graves.

The 253rd Military Police Company will head north on March 28th and spend the following 30 to 45 days undergoing extra training at Fort Dix in New Jersey. From there they will deploy to Iraq, where they will spend the next year training members of the Iraqi Police Force.