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Vernon Downs hosts dinner for soldiers deploying to Kuwait

By LEXIE O'CONNOR

Story Created: Jan 26, 2012 at 9:54 PM EST

Story Updated: Jan 27, 2012 at 2:39 AM EST

VERNON, N.Y. (WKTV) - Vernon Downs Casino and Hotel held a special dinner on Thursday night, honoring soldiers that are deploying to Kuwait.

In addition to the buffet dinner for the soldiers and their families, the hotel also offered complimentary hotel rooms to soldiers who wanted to stay over night. The company will be performing a security force mission, rather than a combat mission, and are expected to be away from home for approximately one year.

"Our unit's really unique," said Kitty Doupe, Executive Officer of Bravo Company. "It's spread out, actually, across country. We have soldiers from Arizona, Virginia, Washington, D.C. come in and they're definitely spread out across the state, between New York City, Albany and Buffalo areas, so it's not very often we get everyone together in one spot, much less their families."

Later this week, the soldiers will head to Camp Shelby in Mississippi for training and preparation before going overseas.
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