     The Nebraska Army National Guard is holding a sendoff ceremony Friday morning in Gering for a Panhandle unit that is deploying to the Middle East.Â
65 members of the 1057th Military Police Company, based in Chadron and with detachments in Scottsbluff and Kearney, will be departing for Fort Bliss, Texas, for several weeks of final pre-deployment training.
      The 1057th will then spend 9 months with the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, which covers 20 nations from Egypt to Afghanistan.
Only 6 of the soldiers deploying are from the Chadron detachment.
       Elected officials from the Panhandle and Major General Stanley Bohac, adjutant general of the Nebraska Army National Guard, will speak at the ceremonies Friday morning at 10:00 in the Weborg 21 Center in Gering.