Another group of Lawrence area soldiers is off to help support the U.S. war on terror after receiving a rousing send-off during a Tuesday banquet.

More than 50 members of the Army reserves’ Lawrence-based 317th Quartermaster supply battalion — including an athlete, a stay-at-home mom, a television repairman and many others — are headed today to Fort Riley, where they will undergo a few weeks of additional training.

Until last month Spc. John McCoy expected to spend this fall playing out his senior year as a defensive end with Kansas University’s football team. But instead of a blue jersey, the 6-foot-3, 250-pounder will be wearing the Army’s green camouflage fatigues somewhere in Kuwait and maybe later in Iraq.

“I don’t know what I will feel like until I’m on that plane heading overseas,” McCoy said. “It’s a feeling I’ve really never had before.”

McCoy, from Richwood, Ohio, signed up for the reserves to earn money to help pay his way to college because he was without a scholarship to play with an NCAA Division 1-A university. He earned All-America honors at Victor Valley College in Southern California before transferring to KU.

“I’m really going to miss those guys,” McCoy said of his teammates. “Those guys are great, and I wish them the best while I’m over there. I wish I could be lining up right next to them.”

McCoy’s mother, Mary McCoy, drove early Tuesday to Lawrence to be with her son during the banquet, which was at the Lawrence Holidome, 200 McDonald Drive.

“Like any parent, you have a lot thoughts going through your head,” Mary McCoy said. I’m very proud of him. He seems in real good spirits, and that eases my mind.”

Mary McCoy said she also would miss following her son’s exploits on the gridiron.

Capt. Jon Harris, of Louisville, Ky., gathers his belongings from a locker at the Army Reserve, 21st and Iowa streets. Harris and other members of the Lawrence-based 317th Quartermaster supply battalion prepared for departure on Tuesday. They ship out today to Fort Riley to prepare for deployment to Kuwait and possibly Iraq.

“This will be the first football season we haven’t had with John in a while,” she said.

Being away from homes, jobs and schools is never easy, said Brig. Gen. Rita Broadway, of the 89th Regional Command, speaking at the banquet. “We all wear the uniform proudly and make the sacrifices.”

Broadway also noted that relatives of reservists made sacrifices as well and thanked them.

“What you have to do at home is very, very important,” Broadway said.

The 89th, based in Wichita, oversees reserve units in Kansas and other Midwest states.

6News video: Reserves to prepare for overseas duty Jayhawk’s unit mobilized (07-15-04) Jayhawk end McCoy stands by decision to join reserves (04-24-04) McCoy KU’s safety net (09-14-02)

Lt. Col. Larry Henderson, the 317th’s commander, also thanked family members and promised they would be kept informed about their loved ones’ duties.

“This is a significant mission,” he said.

In civilian life, Sgt. Michael Argumedo, 40, Lawrence, works as a television repairman for Audio Video Services, 925 Iowa. Military life is not unfamiliar to him, he served several years in the Navy. Now he is deploying with the Army for the first time.

“It will be a fascinating experience, but there is an opportunity to do some good,” said Argumedo, who is single with no children.

Although many members of the 317th are from the Topeka-Lawrence-Kansas City areas, some were drawn from other reserve units elsewhere in the country for this deployment.

One of them was Spc. Miranda Green, from Sioux City, Iowa. She is going on her first deployment, but her husband has been with he Army in Iraq for six months.

“It would have been nice to wait until after he was back, but you got to do what you got to do,” Green, 22, said.

When she left Iowa, she also left her two sons, age 3 and 9 months. Leaving them was tough, she said.

“They get to go with grandma and grandpa for a while,” she said.

This will be the second deployment for Spc. Chad Irby, 22, of Kansas City, Mo. He returned home a year ago after serving a year overseas. Now he’s again leaving behind his 2-year-old son.

“I feel like we just got reacquainted,” he said.

Letters of support were read to the soldiers from Kansas U.S. Sens. Pat Roberts and Sam Brownback, both Republicans, and Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, a Democrat. They apologized for not being able to attend.

Also stopping by to thank the reservists was State Rep. Barbara Ballard, D-Lawrence.