Community Corner

Military Facility Opens in Farmingdale

The new Farmingdale Armed Forces Reserve Center consolidates Long Island operations.

A $92 million Armed Forces Reserve Center opened in Farmingdale last week. It will centralize the operations of the New York Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve and Marine Corps Reserve on Long Island.

The new facility allows the New York Army National Guard to close down five 50-year-old armories, and the Army Reserve to close two older Reserve Centers, one of which they share with the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

The four-story, 212,000 square-foot facility includes maintenance bays, supply rooms, arms rooms, communications facilities, a kitchen and dining facility, drill shed, gym, as well as modern office spaces. Space for family readiness activities are built into the facility as well.

Find out what's happening in Farmingdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The center also includes training equipment, like a rollover simulator that will allow troops to train for vehicle crashes and a virtual-reality shooting simulator that will help prepare troops for live-fire situations, both of which are currently unavailable on Long Island.

The Base Re-Alignment and Closure Commission recommended consolidating the reserve component operations on Long Island as a way to save money. The commission also consolidated Army National Guard and Army Reserve operations in the Hudson Valley, Albany, New York City, and the Niagara Falls.

Find out what's happening in Farmingdalewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

More than 1,500 traditional Guardsmen and Reservists will train at the site and more than 150 full-time Army Guard, Army Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, and Navy Reserve members will work there.

Major General Patrick Murphy, the adjutant general of New York, visited the center on Aug. 16.

"The new building is magnificent," Murphy said at the ribbon cutting ceremony.

Army Reserve Gen. John Cornelius, the commander of the 800th Military Police Battalion, which will be headquartered in the new building, said it is important that the Army National Guard and Army Reserve work together.

"If you think back ten years ago you'd never see the National Guard and the Army Reserve in the same room because our organizations had no affiliation," Cornelius said. "Those days are gone forever."

"We now realize that the security of the United States of America depends heavily on our formations and it is a great thing that we have finally gotten together so we can do more training, at reduced costs, so we can protect our citizens even more," he said.

The new building will house three companies of the New York Army National Guard's 1st Battalion 69th Infantry, which were previously based at five armories spread across Long Island, the 187th Signal Company and E Company of the 3rd Battalion 142nd Aviation Regiment. The Farmingdale Armed Forces Reserve Center will also house the New York Army National Guard's Field Maintenance Site 14.

About 430 members of the New York Army National Guard will be assigned there.

The Army Reserve will move 560 soldiers into the facility. They are assigned to the 800th Military Police Brigade, the 310th and 306th Military Police Battalions, the 306th Engineer Company and the 455th Military Police Detachment and the 455th Engineer Detachment.

About 160 members of the United States Marine Corps Reserve's A Company, 6th Communication Battalion, will be assigned to the Reserve Center. The Navy Reserve will assign 220 members who belong to the Navy Reserve Operational Support Unit, Navy Security Forces, Navy Reserve COMSUB Group Protection Detachment, and Navy Reserve Expeditionary Training Command to the facility.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here