Arkansas’s 142 Field Artillery Brigade departed from Fort Chaffee Monday morning on their way to Washington, D.C.

FORT SMITH -- Members of Arkansas's 142 Field Artillery Brigade departed from Fort Chaffee Monday morning on their way to Washington, D.C.

Officials from the National Guard and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke to those members being deployed as well as their families at the Fort Chaffee Post Theater.

Brig. Gen. Chad Bridges, who serves as the Adjutant General of Arkansas, said that it was not lost on him that this three-month deployment would send the members of the National Guard away from their families over the holidays.

"You are in a long line of Arkansans who are stepping up and serving," Bridges said.

Officials at the send off stressed that this was an important time to step up as a member of the National Guard, especially following the attack on West Virginia National Guard sol