Steven and Vanessa Schneider celebrated their one-year anniversary this summer.

It may be another year before they see each other again.

Steven Schneider, first lieutenant with the Kansas Army National Guard, headed to Iraq in July. He admitted it’ll be tough to be away from his wife but said it’s his duty.

“I’m glad to go,” the Lawrence resident said. “It gives a chance for others to come back. I want to help and do my part.”

Schneider, a 2002 Kansas University graduate, was one of 150 soldiers in the 1st Battalion, 127th Field Artillery honored in a departure ceremony July 1 at Washburn University in Topeka. The battalion is headquartered in Ottawa and includes a detachment based in Lawrence.

The group was to go to Fort Lewis, Wash., on July 15 for training before heading to Iraq. While in the Middle East, the troops will provide security and protection for forces, though they don’t yet know their specific assignment.

Maj. Gen. Tod Bunting, adjutant general for Kansas, said the deployment had special meaning because it came near Independence Day.

“Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom may take place in other parts of the world, but they have a common thread,” Bunting said. “They’re all about freedom – freedom for all who deserve or choose to be free.”

Staff Sgt. Jeremy Byers, a doctoral student at KU, said he didn’t know what to expect in Iraq.

“Being we’re showing up two years into it, our actual living conditions should be pretty nice,” he said. “As for the mission itself, we don’t know yet. The biggest anxiety is just doing it. The clock hasn’t even started yet. The sooner we get over to Iraq, the sooner we can get home.”

Byers thought he and his fellow Jayhawks in the battalion could use some extra moral support, so he asked Chancellor Robert Hemenway to present the unit with an official KU flag to take to Iraq.

“KU’s a big influence on us,” Byers said. “We thought we could take a little piece of home with us.”

Hemenway said the flag could serve a dual purpose.

“We hope it brings safety to these troops,” he said. “And we hope (Iraqis) come to know what it means to be a Jayhawk.”