More than 300 troops of the 1st Sustainment Brigade at Fort Riley are preparing for a nine-month deployment in Afghanistan.

The unit departs next month for duty providing support to other soldiers already in Afghanistan, including thousands from the 1st Infantry Division.

In a ceremony Monday at the northeastern Kansas post, the brigade cased its colors in preparation for moving its flag to a new location.

The Manhattan Mercury reports the soldiers include Spec. Timothy Gardner, whose wife and three children were on hand for the ceremony.

Lindsay Gardner says this will be her husband’s third deployment. Their youngest child is eight weeks old, but the older two have handled the previous deployments well. Lindsay Gardner says they especially enjoy seeing and talking to their dad via computer.