Former U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program baseball pitcher Maj. Steve Reich, one of 16 servicemen killed June 28 when an MH-47D Chinook helicopter was shot down by enemy fire in eastern Afghanistan, was one of dozens of current or former WCAP Soldiers waging the War on Terrorism.    Reich was one of eight members of the Army's 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, who, along with eight Navy SEALS, were aboard the chopper that crashed in the high mountains near the border of Pakistan during combat operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. He was serving his fourth tour of duty in Afghanistan.    A 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., Reich, 34, of Washington, Conn., was a pitcher for USA Baseball's 1993 national team. He still holds Army records for career strikeouts (259) and innings pitched (260 2/3). He twice struck out 17 batters in a game, once against rival Air Force.    Reich entered the Army's World Class Athlete Program in 1995 to train for the 1996 U.S. Olympic Baseball Team Trials. WCAP is designed to give elite Soldier-athletes an opportunity to compete in the Olympics, world and national championships in numerous sports. The program provides Soldier-athletes as goodwill ambassadors for sporting events throughout the world and it helps the Army with recruiting and retention, said WCAP manager Paulette Freese of the U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center.    Athletes in the program, however, live by the motto "Soldiers first."    Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, at least 25 WCAP athletes have deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan alongside their brothers and sisters in arms.    "I just think that we had a special opportunity that had a timeline on it and I was real competitive at the times that I didn't deploy," said WCAP wrestler 1st Lt. Dominic Black. "I was doing something special, but at the same time, I was awaiting my turn to go to a unit that was going to deploy. The biggest thing was to know that when it was my time, I was going to go."    Black eventually chose airborne school at Fort Benning, Ga., instead of a trip to Athens, Greece, to serve as Kerry McCoy's training partner for the 2004 Summer Olympics.    "I was feeling pretty hooah," said Black, who had served as McCoy's training partner in the 2000 Olympics at Sydney, Australia. "I was pretty fired up. I came back from airborne school and deployed 30 days later."     "I have no regrets about it. I was excited to be in the 10th Special Forces Group [Airborne] and I was excited to deploy. I wanted the experience just to see what it was like, probably like any other Soldier. I was ready to take whatever challenge just to see how effective I could be."    Doing their jobs on a world-class level is paramount to Soldiers who join WCAP. They realize the advantages of being Soldier-athletes, yet they know the possibility of deployment always looms.    "I accomplished a lot of things in WCAP," Black said. "When my time in WCAP was up and it was time for me to go and do my military job, I had no reservations about it at all. I was ready to go because that was my intention from the start."    Black is one in a long line of WCAP Soldiers who have deployed during wartime.    From the tight-knit wrestling community, Sgt. Charles Daniels, Sgt. Dave Nieradka and Sgt. Arron Holker have deployed to Iraq, as have All-Army boxers Staff Sgt. Corey Bernard, Sgt. Bradley Martinez, Sgt. Yamar Resto, Sgt. Michael Keopuhiwa, Sgt. Quentin McCoy, Staff Sgt. Christopher Downs and Sgt. Joe Guzman. Staff Sgt. Shaheed Shakir, also a boxer, has twice deployed to Iraq.    From the ranks of All-Army track and field, sprinter Spc. Rohsaan Griffin, distance runner Capt. Scott Goff and discus thrower Sgt. 1st Class Michael Mielke have served in Iraq.  Lt. Col. Robert Harbison, who finished seventh in the 10-meter air rifle event in the 1996 Olympic Games, has served in Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom.    Modern pentathlete Maj. Jim Gregory served in Afghanistan and Iraq. Team handball player 1st Lt. Sunny Chen, a military policewoman who represented the Army in the 2003 Pan American Games, also has served in both countries.    Capt. Curt Schreiner, a four-time Olympic biathlete, served in Iraq, as have biathletes Capt. Rob Rosser and Staff Sgt. Dan Westover, 1998 Olympians; Sgt. Lawton Redman, a 2002 Olympian; and Sgt. Doug Driessen. Spc. Elijah Hrbek, who competes in judo, also served in Iraq.    The WCAP is not confined solely to athletes. Maj. Anthony Bare, a chief of sports medicine, is scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January, and former WCAP Commander Maj. Stephanie Tutton has served in Iraq.    "Based on the principle that Soldiers will be given the same opportunities as the people they defend, WCAP offers them an opportunity to compete at world-level sporting events," Freese said. "They come into the Army as Soldiers and they train as Soldiers - they just have unique skills. That's why they maintain their military structure and why we have a military detachment. And if they are called to war, they do go to war.    "Our philosophy has always been that if you are needed, then you will go. The majority of these Soldiers want to go. That same gung-ho mentality that makes them great athletes and makes them want to compete and win also makes them want to excel in their military skills."