By Mike Barnhardt
Enterprise Record

Donovan McPherson is excited.
As a member of the N.C. National Guard’s 882nd Engineering Company based in Mocksville, he was getting ready for his first deployment to the Middle East.
His brother, Devin, was deployed a week earlier.
The local guard unit, along with those based in Taylorsville and Mt. Airy, received a patriotic send-off Friday at the Brock complex in Mocksville, complete with a military band, speeches, cheers, and plenty of hugs, laughs and tears.
The unit is headed to Kuwait, and they will upgrade a base camp that service men and women pass through on the way to Afghanistan, and on their returns and leaves. It …