An Honor: Soldier Briefs Trump, Esper on COVID-19 NYC Ground Ops

April 3, 2020 | BY Katie Lange , DOD News

It's not every day you get to be part of a phone call with the president and defense secretary, but in these uncertain times, anything is possible.

Army Spc. Samuel Shepard has been learning that quickly. As a medic, the 25-year-old is one of 270 soldiers from Fort Hood, Texas, deployed in New York City, the epicenter of America's COVID-19 crisis. He and fellow soldiers assigned to the 9th Hospital Center, 1st Medical Brigade, are just some of the troops who arrived in the hard-hit city last week to support the Army Corps of Engineers, police and other first responders on the front lines of the pandemic.

Shepard's unit has pulled some 15-hour days to help build a temporary medical station at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center in Manhattan. DOD remains in close coordination with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which is the lead federal agency in the response, to determine how the military could support additional requests for assistance.

Shepard was scouting potential field hospital sites in case they got such a request when he was told to do something he would never forget: President Donald J. Trump and Defense Secretary Dr. Mark T. Esper were holding a conference call with service members and their families, and he was asked to give an update on his unit's mission.

''Seventy-two hours after we left, we were on ground, helping to build the first 1,000 beds and all the patient care and hygiene systems and the staff care and hygiene systems, which were our top priorities,'' Shepard told the president. ''We are ready and willing to do whatever you ask to win this fight, and we will win. That's just what we do.''

Shepard said it was a pretty cool task, despite the pressure of knowing about 1,000 people were on the call.

''It was a great experience to get to update the president on everything that was going on,'' he said. ''When I was in college, I did an internship with the meteorologist at our local TV station, so I was kind of used to talking in front of people.''

Shepard joined the Army as a combat medic three years ago after graduating from college. He was recently selected to attend flight school to become a helicopter pilot, but he’s not sure if that will get put on hold as the coronavirus crisis continues.

Two soldiers kneel down while putting together temporary shelving inside a large room. Others do similar tasks in the background.

For now, he's focused on the mission at hand – helping reduce pressure on the New York medical system. While the 15-hour days have slowed down a bit, Shepard knows it's far from over yet. But he and his unit are prepared for whatever comes their way.

''We have all our people here, so we're able to spread the load,'' Shepard said. ''We're building our battle rhythm as we go along.''

More than 186,000 people in the United States have been diagnosed with the virus that has swept the globe. More than 3,600 had died from COVID-19 as of April 1.

Former soldier who faked his suicide charged with sending a false distress message to the Coast Guard

Soldier’s cousin also charged for scheme that triggered massive search and rescue effort

Tacoma – Two men who schemed to fake a suicide so one could go AWOL from the U.S. Army were charged today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma with making a false distress message to the U.S. Coast Guard, announced U.S. Attorney Brian T. Moran.  DEVIN MITCHELL SCHMIDT, 20, a former soldier from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and his cousin, RYEN ETHAN BELL, 21, of Bonney Lake, Washington will appear in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on June 4, 2020.

According to the criminal complaint, in December 2019, SCHMIDT schemed with BELL to fake his death by suicide so that SCHMIDT could end his military service and live in Mexico.  The two men set their scheme in motion on December 18, 2019, when SCHMIDT filmed a fake suicide video saying goodbye to his family and friends.  BELL reported to Port Townsend, Washington Police that his cousin had sent him the video indicating that he had committed suicide in Fort Warden Historical State Park.  BELL and a friend drove to the park after he received the video via text message.  BELL “found” SCHMIDT’s dog tags, unlocked phone and other belongings at the top of the cliff, 150 feet above the beach at Fort Warden.

As part of the scheme, BELL made the missing person report, knowing that his cousin was alive and in hiding.  The report triggered a search first by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office and on December 19, 2019, a massive Coast Guard search of the waters below the cliffs in dangerous weather conditions.  The search, which lasted approximately 10 hours, cost in excess of $172,000.

The scheme fell apart at about 4:00 p.m. on December 19, 2019, when BELL’s mother revealed that information she received from law enforcement made her suspicious of the missing person report. BELL’s mother said that BELL had told her SCHMIDT was missing and suicidal some four hours before he had actually received the suicide video.  Law enforcement examined BELL’s phone and Facebook messages and determined the two planned to meet up at a Port Townsend McDonalds the evening of December 19, 2019 to begin the next step of their plan to go to Mexico.  Police were waiting and arrested both men.

SCHMIDT received an ‘Other than Honorable Discharge’ from the military on March 25, 2020.

Making a false distress call to the Coast Guard is punishable by up to six years confinement, three years of supervised release, up to $100,000 in civil penalties and up to $250,000 in fines, and financial liability for all costs incurred by the Coast Guard for the life-saving efforts.

The case is being investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS), with assistance from the Port Townsend Police Department and Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Hillary Stuart.

DOD Expands Medical Support in New York City, New Orleans and Dallas

April 3, 2020

At the request of FEMA, the Department of Defense will expand its medical support to include COVID-19 positive patients at the Javits Federal Medical Station (FMS) in New York City, the Morial FMS in New Orleans, Louisiana, and the Kay Bailey Hutchinson FMS in Dallas, Texas.

These three DoD-supported locations will now provide support to COVID-19 positive patients in convalescent care, as well as low-acuity patients. These patients, who require a lower level of medical care, must first be screened at a local hospital.

Additionally, screening for care on the USNS Comfort will be modified and will now occur pier-side in an effort to reduce the backlog at some of the nearby New York hospitals.   The screening effort for the USNS Comfort will no longer require a negative test, but each patient will still be screened by temperature and a short questionnaire.

This assistance will further unburden the local hospital and ambulance systems in these areas, allowing them to focus on the more serious COVID-19 cases. We will immediately implement this action and work with local officials in each area on the details of patient arrival.

We understand that introducing COVID-19 positive patients into the FMS environments elevates the risk of transmission to other patients and our medical providers.  This decision was risk-informed and made to ensure that DoD can continue to provide these local communities the type of medical care they most need.  Force health protection is a top priority and our medical professionals will have the required personal protective equipment needed for this mission.