Associated Press - March 5, 2010 1:24 PM ET

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - With a full-throated shout of "Tiger Brigade, Sir! Who dat!" the Louisiana National Guard's 256th Infantry Brigade came to attention during ceremonies at a National Guard camp in Mississippi to mark the brigade's second deployment to Iraq.

About 400 soldiers from a Lynchburg-based Virginia National Guard infantry battalion joined the 3,000 from units based in Abbeville, Lake Charles, Shreveport, New Orleans, Plaquemine and brigade headquarters in Lafayette.

Thousands of people traveled from Louisiana to Camp Shelby to see the soldiers off Friday. Many of them spent the night in nearby Hattiesburg.

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