FORT DRUM — Fort Drum is a swinging door this month, as members from the 1st Brigade Combat Team return from Iraq and those from the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade depart.

Today, 168 soldiers from the 1st Brigade returned and attended a welcome home ceremony on post at Magrath Gymnasium. They were welcomed by family and friends after 15 months away.

But out on Wheeler-Sack Army Airfield, families were preparing to say goodbye to their soldiers as 280 members of the 10th Aviation Brigade boarded a plane bound for Iraq.

"I'm just hoping and praying that everything goes well over there and that things back home do the same," said Sgt. 1st Class William E. Haddon, who is with the 3rd Battalion, 10th Aviation Regiment. His wife and two daughters will remain in the north country while he is gone. "I expect that we will complete the mission successfully and bring everyone home."

He and the other 280 members, from a range of units with the 10th Aviation Brigade, were loaded with their gear and weapons as they boarded a chartered flight Tuesday afternoon. This group is the second to deploy from the Aviation Brigade; about 65 soldiers left Sunday.

The troops will fly to Kuwait and then to northern Iraq, where they will fly support missions for the 25th Infantry Division at Multinational Division-North. The 10th Aviation Brigade will be deployed for 12 months. The brigade should be completely deployed by Thanksgiving.

"It's bittersweet not deploying with them," said Col. Erik C. Peterson, the commander of the 10th Aviation Brigade, who shook the hands of all the soldiers as they left the hangar. "But that's mitigated by the fact that I will be joining them shortly."

As the soldiers left the hangar, where they were briefed on their flight and what to expect when they landed in Kuwait, they marched single file out to the runway. Some shouted and called the Army "HOO-AH," but most were silent or chatted quietly with their friends.

"I don't know what to expect," said 1st Lt. Matthew A. Hill, with the 6th Squadron, 6th Cavalry. This will be his first deployment; he will be flying Kiowa Warrior helicopters. "We are going to be on an Air Force forward operating base. They are pretty cushy."

He was loaded down with his gear and what he said was the traditional, and lucky, old-fashioned cavalry hat. The thing most on his mind was the upcoming flight. His hopes were that it wouldn't be too bad.

For Sgt. James W. Wright, the deployment is welcome. He is deploying for the second time with his wife — something he says is a blessing and a curse.

"It's going to be a pleasure to deploy with my wife," he said. "But it's difficult 'cause I can't walk away and tell her I'm going out with the boys. There is nowhere to go. But being here at Fort Drum is more of a deployment to me. When you're over there, you have everything that you could ever want at your fingertips."