CONTACT: Eric Durr, 518-786-4581 or (cell) 518-429-5186

FOR RELEASE: Thursday, Jun 10, 2010

JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ (06/09/2010)(readMedia)-- More than 160 members of the New York Army National Guard's 442nd Military Police Company departed Joint Base Dix-McGuire-Lakehurst early this morning bound for Iraq. The Soldiers mobilized in April and spent the last two months training for their deployment to Baghdad. The unit is deploying to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom to continue with the transition mission from U.S. and coalition forces to Iraqi security forces. The 442nd Military Police Company is comprised of about 170 men and women and is based at the State Armory in Jamaica, Queens. The unit served at Ground Zero following the 9-11, 2001 terrorist attacks and was deployed to Iraq in 2003-4, where it earned a Presidential Unit Citation and helped re-establish a training academy for the Iraqi police. Approximately a third of the unit's members are civilian law enforcement professionals from across the New York City region and almost a fourth of the unit's members have already completed at least one overseas deployment.