THE Band of the Royal Engineers will march to possible war when they leave for the Gulf in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

A team of 29 engineers will leave the Brompton Barracks at around 3.30am, and head to RAF Brize Norton, the military airport in Oxfordshire.

From there, the engineers will take an afternoon flight to Kuwait, where they will form part of the General Service Medical Regiment.

The 25 men and four women will take the role of a decontamination squad and provide medical treatment to Allied troops if Saddam Hussein resorts to using chemical or biological weapons.

Among the team is expected to be Louise Hallet, who had to bring forward her wedding day from August after learning she would be heading to the Gulf.

The Royal Engineer featured on the front page of Medway Today in late January after marrying Elton Montgomery in Maidstone.

An Army spokesman said: "The departure of the Royal Engineers Band from Brompton completes the deployment of the main body of soldiers from Kent to the Gulf.

"Morale is high and we are assuring that relatives will be kept well informed of the situation in theatre."

The soldiers will face an eight-hour flight to Kuwait, where they will be faced with daytime temperatures of 25C, which can turn to freezing at night.