First Lt. James Bonasia, formerly of Oyster Bay, is the company commander of the 340th Military Police Company soon to be leading reservists to Kosovo. Lt. Bonasia is the son of Madeline and the late Joe Bonasia of Oyster Bay. He is a graduate of NY Tech and is married to Faylene Buskirk of Seaford. She is a special education teacher at AHRC. The couple were married on Valentine's Day this year, at the North Hempstead Town Hall in Manhasset. A formal wedding is planned for June 2002.

As the commander's wife Faylene is heading up the support group for the families left behind which extends to Tennesse. The company of men and women are training at several army facilities in the south, preparing for their deployment to Kosovo.

"To get the company up to full strength, since some of the reservists had hardships and couldn't go, the army recruited a few reservists from Tennessse, said Faylene.

"I also have them as a point of contact: not only the families here on Long Island, but those out of town families too." She is involved in sending everyone a company newsletter.

"We are still getting it together.

"I have a telephone tree if any information has come in and needs to get out to the families," she said.

There is a newsletter that will go via email so that the reservists can keep in touch with what is happening at home.

"It will have information such as someone's son got a new tooth or someone has a lead in a school play. As I get information from the company it will have something like 'the first night off in Kosovo we ordered donuts,'" she said.

"In Kosovo they will be stationed in a fully functional location where they can bring some taste of home. I've been told they will be stationed somewhere nice, not out in the woods."

A lot of 1st Lt. Bonasia's training has included setting up camp in the woods, and sleeping in tents.

"I will have a 'Say Hi' video with the families speaking that we can send to the company in Kosovo," she said. Faylene is well qualified for her liaison job since she was a communications major at NY Tech, as was the lieutenant.

When the assignment became headline news, Lieutenant Bonasia had two TV interviews. The first was on Channel 12 and showed the troops leaving New York. "James was interviewed about the troops going to Kosovo on Channel 12.

"The Channel Four interview took the angle of what they are leaving behind," said Faylene. "They spoke to several of the soldiers. One is leaving a mother and sister who were disappointed he was leaving. Another has a wife and four children. He said he knew that day would come when he would have to serve.

"James showed our wedding picture on TV and didn't talk about the mission on that clip, although he actually was interviewed for about 20 minutes.

"Our wedding date was going to fall into the middle of the deployment, but we put it ahead. A lot of people followed suit, after us," she said.

Faylene is happy they upped the wedding date since she would have in any case been given the role of "Commander's wife," being in charge of maintaining the morale of the home front.

In the meantime, she and her mother-in-law are finishing up the details on the wedding.

The couple presently live in Westbury.

"He's going to do the best job he can. I want to do the best too. That's just us," she said.

Both NY Tech grads were in the school at the same time. "We knew some of the same people. He saw one of my videos from school and knew people I knew. I was friends with his roommate's mother."

"We are soulmates," she said.

She is learning the Army-way-of-life. "I didn't know the difference between a staff sergeant and a first sergeant.

At the Change of Command and because of the deployment, the outgoing spouse received flowers. The outgoing commander's wife received red roses and I got yellow roses welcoming me into the unit as the commander's wife.

"The colonel's wife is my senior advisor," she said.

Faylene works at the AHRC. The defining terms are changing she said. The children used to be defined as from severe to profoundly retarded, to for children requiring special needs.

"I actually love my job. I first went in with a friend and worked there part-time."

She had been looking for a job in the television production field but ended up as the secretary of an Associated Press executive editor. "I missed the children, I didn't like commuting to the city. I had an office overlooking the ice skating rink at Rockefeller Plaza but the job wasn't for me. I was watching them putting the ice in and wondering why I was not enjoying it." She worked there for four weeks and in January went for her master's in special ed.

"I love the children. I see their personalities over their problems."