Reservists deploy to Iraq from Fort Totten

While many were out enjoying the last Sunday before the lamb-like departure of March, hundreds packed the Ernie Pyle reserve center at Fort Totten in Bayside, to witness a deployment to Iraq.
About 170 activated Army reservists, members of the 340th Military Police Company, stood erect before friends, loved-ones and “brothers in arms,” on Sunday, March 30, to receive a benediction and a promise.
After the invocation by the Chaplain, Colonel Glyger Beach, the assembled military police officers, medics and staff of the unit were lauded by Major General William Terpeluk, commander of the 77th Regional Readiness Command, currently headquartered at the fort.
Terpeluk promised the men and women before him that “even though we won’t be here when you get back,” they would be fully supported.
Around the edges of the room, dozens of Vietnam-era veterans, many holding American flags, nodded their heads in stern confirmation.
The two-star general’s words had special poignancy and not just because Terpeluk is due to retire this year – he will also be the last Army commander for Fort Totten.
The 77th is being de-activated, essentially reduced to a file folder in an administrative group to be stationed at Fort Dix, New Jersey, which will command Army Reserve units throughout the northeast.
The building, named after the famed war correspondent and Pacific War casualty who was with the 77th Infantry Division when he was killed, will remain but the sliver of Fort Totten retained by the military will be a satellite base of another unit.
Company commander, Captain Lawrence Clossum reminded his troops of their motto, “Anytime, anywhere!” to a deafening “Whoop” from around the room.
The company, which meets at the 2nd Lieutenant MacDonald Reserve Center, located at 168-10 Goethals Avenue in Jamaica, will touch up their training for about two weeks, before actually going to Iraq for their 400-day deployment.
With a touch of pride, Clossum asked how many of the troops had deployed before. Most of them raised their hands. As one, they shouted, “Anytime, Anywhere!”
One who didn’t raise her hand was Sergeant Dana Quinn, from Astoria. “This is my first deployment and I’m pretty excited” she said with a broad smile. Quinn is a New York City police officer when not a military one.
Single, she lives with her mother Miong and father David Quinn, himself a 20-year Army veteran of the “first Gulf War.” Expressing great pride in his daughter, and the timeless selflessness of soldiers, he held out a beefy hand and said, “Thanks for coming.”