Thursday, April 09, 2020

Despite COVID-19, U.S. Military Remains Ready to Fight


April 9, 2020 | BY C. Todd Lopez , DOD News

The Defense Department is doing a lot to combat the spread of COVID-19 across the nation, but its primary mission — the defense of the nation and its interests — continues unabated, Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist said.

"To those who wish us harm, make no mistake: even with the challenges that this disease has brought to our shores, the Department of Defense stands ready to meet any threat and defend our nation," Norquist said during a news conference today at the Pentagon. "Over the last four years, we have rebuilt our military from the negative effects of sequestration. We have more people, more advanced equipment, more munitions and are better trained. If our adversaries think this is our moment of weakness, they are dangerously wrong."

Norquist said DOD support of state and local authorities in the fight against the coronavirus means that DOD people might end up with a higher rate of infection from the virus than other populations. But at the same time, he said, the youthful demographic of the U.S. military means that fewer of those who contract the virus will suffer severe consequences.

According to Defense Department statistics, of the 1,898 current coronavirus cases among active duty service members, only 64 required hospitalization.

Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said readiness across the department is where it needs to be.

"We watch the readiness of the force every day. And the readiness of the force, in aggregate, has not dropped as we've gone through this," Hyten said. "That's something that we have to watch very, very closely."

While there are "pockets" of degraded readiness across the force, such as the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt staying in port in Guam longer than it normally would, the aggregate readiness is unaffected, he said.

What may eventually affect readiness, Hyten said, is a prolonged reduction in numbers of new recruits entering basic training for military service.

"We've had to cut down the pipeline into basic training in order to make sure that the folks that go into basic training, go into basic training in a safe, secure way. Each of the services, working in a different way, have constricted the pipeline of folks coming in," Hyten said. "For a short period of time, that's not a big issue. If that continues long, then all of a sudden our numbers come down. And that will eventually impact readiness if it goes on month after month after month."

But for now, Hyten said, "our readiness is still full up."

Hyten also said  the department has some 50,000 personnel involved in the fight against the coronavirus — of those, he said, about 30,000 are from the National Guard and reserves.

The general cited one team of reservists, led by Col. Hans F. Otto at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as being emblematic of the dedication reservists and Guard members have had since being called up to duty to fight the coronavirus.

"They call themselves the 'COVID Commandos,'" Hyten said. "Just four days ago, ... their team — one doctor and six nurses — packed their bags, said goodbye to their families, [and] deployed to New York with 24 hours' notice. ... There's been thousands of stories like that since the president mobilized the reserve [March 27]."

Across the department, military doctors, nurses and enlisted medical professionals are leaving home to deploy to places across the country to aid civilian doctors and protect the nation, the general said.

"They're moving fast to help their fellow citizens in a time of crisis," he added. "They're helping to support the heroic doctors and nurses already there who are tired and have been fighting that disease for the last few weeks, and they need support. That's what they're there for. And that's just a few examples of the sacrifice that citizen airmen and citizen soldiers are making from all units in order to fight and improve the lives of Americans."

Mobility Airmen Transport Medics, Supplies in COVID-19 Fight


April 9, 2020 | BY Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman

Air Force Reserve mobility airmen from California answered an urgent request to deploy medical personnel to New York to help combat COVID-19.

Within a few hours of notification April 5, an aircrew from March Air Reserve Base took to the sky in a C-17 Globemaster III transport jet, bound for Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey.

A crew from March's 452nd Air Mobility Wing departed with Air Force Reserve medics from the 940th Air Refueling Wing at Beale Air Force Base, the 349th AMW at Travis Air Force Base and the 452nd AMW at March.

''It's important to get our reservists out the door quickly to help combat the spread of COVID-19 and take care of Americans,'' said Brig. Gen. Stacey Scarisbrick, Air Force Reserve Command Force Generation Center commander.

Air Force Reserve Command mobilized more than 120 doctors and nurses, along with respiratory technicians, who were flown to New Jersey for further in-processing with the U.S. Northern Command's Joint Forces Land Component Command.

The medical professionals were slated for follow-on movement to New York City's Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, a 2,910-bed field hospital, which is one of the largest in the United States.

''California is stepping up to help our fellow Americans in New York and across the country who are being impacted the hardest right now by the COVID-19 pandemic,'' said California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The governor announced April 6 that the state would loan 500 state-owned ventilators to the states most affected by COVID-19, starting with New York, which had more than 122,000 cases of the virus as of April 6.

Air Force Command Chief Master Sgt. Derek Crowder of the 60th Air Mobility Wing, said the country must come together to fight COVID-19 and that Travis Air Force Base is ready to help the nation in any way.

''It doesn't matter if you're an active-duty airman, civilian or a reservist — we are here to answer the call at a moment's notice,'' he said. ''We are in this together, and we will get through this together."

(Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Hodgman is assigned to the 60th Air Mobility Wing.)

China Coast Guard Sinking of a Vietnam Fishing Vessel


April 9, 2020

The Department of Defense is greatly concerned by reports of a China Coast Guard vessel's collision with and sinking of a Vietnam fishing vessel in the vicinity of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The PRC's behavior stands in contrast to the United States' vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific region, in which all nations, large and small, are secure in their sovereignty, free from coercion, and able to pursue economic growth consistent with accepted international rules and norms.  The United States will continue to support efforts by our allies and partners to ensure freedom of navigation and economic opportunity throughout the entire Indo-Pacific.

The COVID-19 pandemic underscores the importance of the rules based international order, as it sets the conditions that enable us to address this shared threat in a way that is transparent, focused, and effective.  We call on all parties to refrain from actions that would destabilize the region, distract from the global response to the pandemic, or risk needlessly contributing to loss of life and property.