DALTON, Ga. — Alex Eacret doesn’t know how to make sense of a calendar quite yet, but he knows that after his father leaves this morning, it will be a very long time before he gets to hug him again.

“My daddy won’t be back until my next birthday,” the 6-year-old said shyly before ducking behind his aunt — and guardian for the next year — Ann Lewallen, of East Ridge.

Staff Photo by Allison Kwesell Marsha Whitener waves a flag for the Georgia National Guard's 1/108th Cavalry Regiment as they drive through downtown Dalton during a parade in their honor. The regiment will leave Tuesday morning for training to go to Afghanistan for a year as a special reconnaissance unit.

Alex’s father, 24-year-old Pvt. Greg Eacret, is a single parent from Fort Oglethorpe. As one of 85 members of the Georgia National Guard’s 1/108th Cavalry Regiment, he’ll leave early this morning for predeployment training at Camp Shelby, Miss.

By mid-April, he’ll be headed straight to Afghanistan — the increasingly dangerous war zone that President Barack Obama sees as the new focal point in the global war on terror.

“My goal is to have a comprehensive strategy of not just force, but also diplomacy and development that is all working in concert to get the kind of outcome we want,” Mr. Obama said in a news release.

The president is shipping 17,000 troops to Afghanistan and the Tennessee Valley will see effects of the plan play out firsthand. While the Guard unit from Georgia will be on the ground for reconnaissance and surveillance, Tennessee units already are on the ground for a different reason — farming — trying to teach the poppy-growing farmers of Afghanistan how to grow other, nonheroin-producing crops.

Pvt. Eacret’s unit was formerly a heavy artillery unit that deployed to Iraq in 2005. But conditions on the ground in Afghanistan dictated a change to Reconnaissance, Surveillance and Target Acquisition for the upcoming deployment, according to Georgia National Guard spokesman Lt. Col. Kenneth Baldowski.

“They went to a much more lethal, lighter, fast-strike capability unit,” Lt. Col. Baldowski said. “This actually reflects the mission of the units that are currently serving in there. It’s not the use of heavy tanks and armor, but much lighter, more lethal elements.”

Younger Troops

When the unit’s mission changed, many of its older, more experienced soldiers were replaced by young men just out of boot camp, according to 1st Sgt. Darrell Walker, who will be in charge of personnel matters for the unit in Afghanistan. The newer soldiers have learned the most recent battlefield techniques based on the latest intelligence and bring an enhanced level of physical fitness to the unit, 1st Sgt. Walker said.

“They’ve forced some of the older guys to pick up the pace,” he said.

But those “older guys” will bring experience to the mix, said Spc. Gill Barrett of Cleveland, Tenn., deployed to Iraq with the Tennessee Guard’s 278th Regimental Combat Team in 2004. Spc. Barrett successfully trained Iraqi police during that deployment and says his job during the Afghanistan tour is expected to be similar.

“There’s really no difference between this deployment and last deployment,” he said. “Only the country.”

Meanwhile, 64 Tennessee National Guardsmen are already in Afghanistan, but with a completely different type of role. The team deployed in January as a specialized “agribusiness” unit bent on teaching local farmers to grow things other than heroin poppies, said Guard spokesman Randy Harris.

The idea is to teach Afghans self-sufficiency through farming while stemming the drug trade, which finances terrorist groups. Officials say Tennessee was among a handful of states asked to bring their Guard units into the Department of Defense-sponsored Afghan Agribusiness Initiative.

These efforts go hand-in-hand with security and reconnaissance work, Mr. Harris explained. “They all work in conjunction,” he said.

At a sendoff party for the 1/108th, known as “C-Troop,” 1st Sgt. Walker acknowledged that he and his soldiers are a bit nervous about the turbulent situation ahead of them.

“We’ll be in harm’s way. There’s no doubt about it,” he said. “I can’t honestly say there’s not concern there. But we do have a lot of trust in our training. We’re a very disciplined outfit.”

Ms. Lewallen is worried, too, but as she holds down the fort for her young nephew at home, she’s going to try not to think about it too much.

“If I pay attention to the details, then I know exactly where everything is at and exactly what is bombed, and I don’t want to know that,” she said, shaking her head.

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