AUGUSTA - Troops from the Maine Army National Guard and the Marines are preparing for overseas deployment in the coming months.

The 78 members of the Maine Army National Guard’s 286th Combat Support Battalion will be deployed to Afghanistan in September.

About 20 Marines from the 25th Marine Regiment, Company A, 1st Battalion, will be deployed to southwest Asia. A farewell ceremony will be held at 5 p.m. Monday at the Marine Corps Reserve Center in Topsham as the Marines head to Twentynine Palms, Calif., for several months of training.

Additionally, a National Guard Army brigade with some Maine-based members has been told to prepare for possible deployment to Afghanistan in 2010.

It’s not yet known which components of the 86th Brigade Combat Team from the Vermont National Guard might be told to mobilize, said Capt. Shanon Cotta, a Maine Army National Guard spokesman. One of the four companies in the brigade is the 3rd Battalion, 172nd Infantry, which includes about 160 soldiers soldiers in Brewer-based Bravo Company.