It wasn't easy leaving her family and friends. But Waynette Denny did her best to find a silver lining on Saturday as her National Guard unit left Utah for a 12-month deployment to Afghanistan.

"At least the waiting is over," said Denny, a member of the 144th Area Support Medical Company. "That's been the hardest part."

This is a new experience for the 21-year-old medic -- and she's not alone. This will be the first combat tour of duty for most of the soldiers in her 80-member unit.

Fewer than 20 have done a prior turn at war -- and only a few have ever seen Afghanistan.

During the company's last deployment, in Iraq in 2005, the unit's soldiers found themselves spread across the a war-torn nation in large forward-operating bases and austere desert outposts. Based on those experiences, the few veterans in the group have told the younger soldiers to expect the unexpected in Afghanistan.

"They've told us to stay focused on what we're doing and make the best of what we have," Denny said.

The unit will arrive in Afghanistan at a time of increasing violence in the longest war in U.S. history, a time in which Taliban and insurgent forces have turned to powerful roadside bombs as their signature weapon. So far this year, improvised explosive devices have killed at least 40 U.S. military members and have injured scores of others.

"We're going to be busy," said Lisa Tigert, who is also doing her first combat tour. "But we've got a lot of a great soldiers and we've done a lot of great training."

Charity Coe, a physician's assistant who deployed with the 144th to Iraq in 2005, said she tells her fellow soldiers that the deployment "is all what you make of it."

"The thing is, this can be the best experience of your life or it can be not so fun," said said. "It's all up to you."

mlaplante@sltrib.com / blogs.sltrib.com/military