SOUTH POINT- They told him he was needed at a strategic planning session, and indeed, that was what it appeared to be until his wife wheeled in the cake that read "God Bless You, Randy."

Lawrence County MR/DD employees Friday had a surprise reception for their co-worker Randy Guthrie, who leaves later this month for an 18-month tour of duty in Iraq.

Guthrie is a Vietnam-era veteran and member of the Ohio Army National Guard's 216th Engineer Battalion, Ironton detachment. He is a maintenance supervisor at the Early Childhood Center.

Guthrie said he got the call two weeks ago. "I've anticipated for the last year that this would happen," Guthrie said.

"We've trained for it, and talked about it as a group. My feeling was that it would probably happen, I just didn't know when."

His deployment caught some of his friends by surprise. After all, Guthrie is 55 years old. One tends to think of active military duty as something young men do- men his son's age. Guthrie's son, Ryan, is already in Iraq with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division.

Guthrie will leave Dec. 21 for Camp Atterbury, Ind. After training, he will leave for Iraq. However, the father said it is doubtful he will be able to see his son once he gets there. Ryan Guthrie is scheduled to leave the Middle East in February.

Guthrie's wife, Marsha said the thought of having both her husband and her son away from home has left her with feelings of sadness and fear.

"Randy's doing extremely well with this. He's a soldier and he's accepted it as part of his job. As for me, I'm taking it one day at a time. I've put it in God's hands." The Guthries also have a daughter, Erica.

His co-workers said they will miss Guthrie while he's gone. Early Childhood Programs Director Sue Vanderhoof said she intends for the children at the center to keep in touch with Guthrie through emails and letters.

"My heart goes out to his family," Vanderhoof said. "Not that there's ever a good time to be deployed but it's the holidays. He had talked about it but we never really thought he would be taken. We're going to miss him."