Many families of local National Guardsmen who are scheduled to deploy to Iraq later this month have been spending pre-departure leaves this week with the soldiers in southern Mississippi.

A pre-departure leave that began on Monday allowed Cpl. Mark McGinnis, of Greene County, to do some sightseeing and spend time with his wife, Tammy, and their seven-year-old son, Markus.

The Greeneville-based soldiers of Troop L of the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment's 3rd Squadron and their other 278th ACR comrades from Tennessee's largest National Guard unit will report back to Camp Shelby, Miss., for a Friday morning formation that will precede a noon (Central Time) departure ceremony.

The 278th ACR citizen-soldiers are expected to depart in groups for Iraq aboard airliners chartered by the U.S. military next week, according to Maj. Alan Mingledorff, the 278th's public information officer.

"I'm on the last flight out," Mingledorff said on Wednesday by telephone from Camp Shelby.

The 278th ACR is being augmented for the deployment to Iraq by the Kentucky National Guard's 2113rd Transportation Company, from Paducah, Ky., and the Michigan National Guard's 1073 Maintenance Company, which is based in Greenville, Mich.

The families do not know exactly when the soldiers will board airplanes for Iraq, said Tammy McGinnis, a Greene County resident who is assistant leader of the Family Readiness Group of Troop L.

But the departures will likely begin next week, she said.

Several Troop L families plan to remain near Camp Shelby until the soldiers actually depart, Tammy McGinnis said. Other family members will be returning to Tennessee on Sunday, she said.

Simply getting to Camp Shelby near Hattiesburg, Miss., had not been easy for 278th ACR families because of last weekend's snow and ice.

Tammy McGinnis and four other Troop L Family Readiness Group member families left Greeneville about 2:30 p.m. in a "convoy" of private vehicles.

Shortly after they passed Knoxville, she said, the families ran into sleet that coated Interstate 75.

"Chattanooga was horrible," she said, noting that the small caravan forged on toward Mississippi despite the ice and snow.

"We couldn't stop," she said. "It was so slick that we were afraid one of the cars might not be able to get started again if we did."

The group of Troop L families eventually spent the night in Fort Payne, Ala., before continuing on to Camp Shelby, which is south of Hattiesburg, Miss.

Tammy McGinnis said the 278th ACR soldiers (including those from Troop L) were released on leave on Monday and that her family and several others traveled about 45 minutes south of Camp Shelby to Gulfport, Miss.

Cpl. Mark McGinnis said four other Troop L families were staying at the same Gulfport motel as was his family.

The McGinnis family traveled to New Orleans on Tuesday to tour the city.

"We saw four other families from Troop L there," he said.

Asked how pre-deployment training at Camp Shelby had been for the Troop L soldiers, Cpl. McGinnis said training had been tough, "especially at first."

"We were going from 4 a.m. until late at night every day," he said.

Once in Iraq, the 278th guardsmen are expected to be assigned to duty escorting convoys of U.S. military vehicles, senior leaders said before the unit departed for Camp Shelby in December.

Cpl. McGinnis, who is making his first deployment to Iraq along with many other current Troop L members, said he was amazed during a recent departure ceremony practice session at the number of troops the 278th ACR includes.

Maj. Mingledorff estimated the augmented regiment's strength at about 3,500 troops.

The entire unit is scheduled to pass in review during Friday's departure ceremony at Camp Shelby.

Also during that event, according to an agenda for the departure ceremony that was provided earlier by the Tennessee Army National Guard, a 278th Memorial will be dedicated at Camp Shelby.

Other 278th ACR units are based in Kingsport, Rogersville and Newport.

The regiment was scheduled to remain on active duty for one year, beginning when it deployed to Camp Shelby on Dec. 6, 2009.

The 278th was last deployed to Iraq in 2004. During that deployment, the unit trained Iraqi security forces and assisted with provincial elections and the National Constitutional Referendum.

More recently, the 278th ACR spent three weeks conducting annual training at Camp Shelby between Sept. 19 and Oct. 10, 2009.

"The regiment has anticipated the order and conducted individual and collective training for the deployment over the past six months," said Col. Jeffrey Holmes, the 278th's commander, when the unit received mobilization orders in June 2009.

He added, "Our soldiers and families are prepared, and we're ready to get it started. We began this process three years ago and it will be gratifying to have the opportunity to finish the job."