Statement by Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Jonathan Rath Hoffman on Lithuanian Defence Minister Visit and Subsequent COVID Diagnoses

 Nov. 19, 2020

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The department was made aware by the Lithuanian Embassy today that Lithuanian Minister of Defence Raimundas Karoblis has tested positive for COVID-19.  Minister Karoblis visited the Pentagon on Nov. 13, 2020, where he met with multiple senior leaders, including Acting Secretary of Defense Chris Miller.  On that day he also met with the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force, and Anthony Tata, Performing the Duties of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.  On Monday, November 16, the minister met with the Secretary of the Navy.  All have been tested since their meetings.  As a result of the embassy notification, Mr. Tata was tested today and has tested positive for COVID-19 on two successive tests.  He will isolate at home for the next 14 days in accordance with Center for Disease Control protocols.

We have and are continuing to conduct further contact tracing of DoD personnel who have had close contact with the Lithuanian delegation or Mr. Tata, and are taking appropriate precautions in accordance with CDC guidelines.  Additionally, DoD personnel who had contact with the delegation have received or are receiving at this time rapid COVID tests as deemed necessary based on CDC protocols.  Additional necessary testing for individuals who had contact with Mr. Tata is ongoing.  We will report additional positive cases as appropriate. 

The Department has learned much over the last 10 months of COVID, and even recently we have recommitted to fastidiously following the CDC guidelines with respect to mitigation measures – face coverings, social distancing, contact tracing, hand washing and virtual engagements among others.  As CDC COVID mitigation guidelines were followed during the Acting Secretary’s bilateral meeting with the minister, as well as meetings with Mr. Tata, Acting Secretary of Defense Miller is not quarantining.  Similarly, each of the Service Secretaries are not quarantining based on testing and mitigation measures that were in place during the Lithuanian delegation’s visit and CDC guidelines.  We will continue to evaluate conditions, take appropriate preventative measures, and undertake additional necessary testing.

Despite COVID, we will remain vigilant and at our posts to ensure the safety and security of the American people.  We wish Minister Karoblis and Mr. Tata well and hope they recover quickly.

North Carolina National Guard Continues COVID-19 Response Efforts

 Nov. 19, 2020 , North Carolina National Guard

For some Americans, life is slowly getting back to normal with more people returning to work and school across the country.

Despite that, many states are still responding to problems brought on by the pandemic, including an increased need for COVID-19 testing and a larger population now relying on assistance from food banks.

That is where the North Carolina National Guard steps in. In late September, more than 170 Army and Air Guardsmen were activated to support their state and ease the pressure of responding to a crisis. 

One of the largest areas where guardsmen are supporting North Carolina is at food banks across the state. 

Mary Maxton, the manager of volunteer engagement at the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, said they have seen an increase from 600,000 people in need to 800,000 across the 34 counties they support. 

The Raleigh-based food bank where Maxton works now has a team of five N.C. Guardsmen filling the gaps where their volunteer base has decreased from around 90 volunteers a day to an average of 20.

"It's challenging to be here all day for any volunteer, and I know five days in a row is a lot, so we really appreciate the [N.C. National Guard] and all they do." Maxton said. "It's been a tremendous help. It's very nice to have a consistent five people coming in every day."

For many of the soldiers, including 1st Lt. Charles Brown, a platoon leader with the 878th Engineer Company, working at the food bank is a fulfilling experience that led them to join the N.C. Guard in the first place. 

"I'm glad me and my guys could help out here," Brown said. "This is really what I signed up for six years ago, to serve my community."

The five-man team works on all the projects that come through the food bank including distribution, which brings the soldiers face-to-face with the people they are supporting. 

"It's really great to see some of the faces light up when they get the food that they need," said Cpl. Dakotah Teter, a combat engineer with the 151st Mobility Augmentation Company.

But food insecurity isn't the only need guardsmen are supporting. Several teams are stationed at COVID-19 test sites across North Carolina, including a site in High Point where four soldiers and one airman are teaming up with Rhino Medical Services at a drive-thru test site. 

The guardsmen register patients to get tested and help with the logistics of operating the site. 

Burneta Barley, a registered nurse and team lead with Rhino Medical Services said having the guardsmen supporting means the nurses can focus on doing more tests.

"We're averaging between 80 and 90 a day," Barley said. "Everyone works well together, it's almost like a family to be honest because we spend almost 6 to 7 hours together a day."

Although it is not uncommon for guardsmen to support their communities during times of need, the work they do when responding to a hurricane or winter storm more closely resembles their military jobs than the work many of them are doing to support the COVID-19 response.

"Going from our regular military jobs of digging in the dirt to helping out with COVID tests, it's an entirely different monster in my opinion," said Spc. Bennie Kinley with the 875th Engineer Company. "It's a different experience when you've got people you know in your local community showing up."

As long as North Carolina has a need, Army and Air Guardsmen will continue to be activated to support the pandemic response across the state. Since March of this year, guardsmen have supported the distribution of more than 6.2 million food bank meals and assisted with the testing of close to 21,000 citizens.

DOD Announces Secretary of Defense Maintenance Award Winners

 Nov. 19, 2020

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The Department of Defense (DOD) announced the 2020 winners of the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards. These awards are presented annually to recognize outstanding achievements in weapon systems and military equipment maintenance.

A total of six field-level awards are presented in three categories - large, medium, and small. The recipients of this year's Secretary of Defense Field-level Maintenance Awards in the large category are the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN and the 56th and 944th Fighter Wings combined as the 1K Maintenance Group. Winners in the medium category are the Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 36, Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, III Marine Expeditionary Force and 100th Maintenance Group. The small category winners are Bravo Company, 526th Brigade Support Battalion and the Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron FIVE ONE.

The Secretary of Defense Field-level Maintenance Awards are symbolized by the legendary Phoenix, a mythological bird which lived for some five centuries, died, was consumed by flames, and then reborn from its own ashes. Periodically, so states the myth, the Phoenix would again and again be reborn. This unique ability of the legendary Phoenix to rejuvenate and renew itself characterizes the role of weapon systems and maintenance in the DoD. The winner of the Phoenix Award, recognized as the best of the best field-level maintenance units, will be selected from the six field-level award winners.

The depot-level award is named in recognition of Robert T. Mason, a former assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for maintenance policy, programs, and resources. Mason served as the champion of organic depot maintenance for three decades and was instrumental in transforming DoD organic depot-level operations. The recipient of the 2020 Robert T. Mason Depot Maintenance Excellence Award is Satellite Transportable Terminal Depot Maintenance Program, Tobyhanna Army Depot.

The department also recognized the sustainment training, advice, and assistance of foreign military forces awards. This year’s ministerial category winner is the Jordan Country Project, Institute for Security Governance and the operational category winner is 108th sustainment brigade - task force Lincoln, Team Blackhawks, United States Central Command.

The 309th Software Engineering Group at Ogden Air Logistics Complex was selected as the Rear Admiral Grace M. Hopper award for software maintenance excellence in the second year of its award.

The awards will be presented to the winners on January 13, 2021 in the Pentagon Auditorium.

Mortar Fire

 

New Jersey National Guard soldiers fire a 120 mm mortar system at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J., Nov. 13, 2020.

Rear View

 

Air Force Tech. Sgt. James Hurst observes a training event at Pope Army Airfield, N.C., Nov. 9, 2020.

Solider Sight

 

A soldier rides in an armored personnel carrier during an exercise at Fort Irwin, Calif., Nov. 13, 2020.

Holiday Season Guidance to Minimize Spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019

 Nov. 19, 2020

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On Tuesday, the department released the Holiday Season Guidance to Minimize Spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019, which supplements existing guidance in DOD Force Health Protection Supplements, military installation orders, and Combatant Command disease prevention guidelines, as well as other state, local, territorial, or tribal health and safety laws, rules, and regulations.

The memo advises service members and DOD employees to follow recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to minimize the spread of COVID-19 during the holiday season. The CDC guidance is found here. Relevant CDC recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Gatherings can contribute to the spread of other infectious diseases, thus getting an influenza vaccination is an essential part of protecting your health and family.
• Do not travel or attend gatherings if recently diagnosed with COVID-19 and not yet met the criteria for when it is safe to be around others; have symptoms of COVID-19; are awaiting test results; may have been exposed to someone who has contracted COVID-19 within the last 14 days; or are at increased risk of severe illness from COVID-19.
• During travel and during gatherings, wear a face covering, avoid close contact, wash your hands, avoid contact with sick individuals, and avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth.
• Limit the duration and the number of people at gatherings as much as possible.
• Outdoor activities are safer than indoor activities. If you attend an indoor event, avoid crowded, poorly ventilated, and fully enclosed indoor spaces. Increase ventilation by opening windows and doors to the extent that it is safe and feasible based on the weather.
• Check with the event host, organizer, or event venue for updated information about any COVID-19 safety guidelines that will be in place to prevent the spread of the virus.

The memo for Holiday Season Guidance to Minimize Spread of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 can be found here.

Current DOD travel guidelines remain in effect and are provided in Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness Memorandum, "Force Health Protection Guidance (Supplement 12), Department of Defense Guidance for Personnel Traveling during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic," dated August 6, 2020, which can be found here.  

Readout of Acting Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller's Meeting With Uzbekistan Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulaziz Kamilov

 Nov. 19, 2020

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Acting Secretary of Defense Christopher C. Miller met with His Excellency Abdulaziz Kamilov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uzbekistan to reaffirm the strategic security partnership between the United States and Uzbekistan. 

 Acting Secretary Miller welcomed Uzbekistan’s efforts to facilitate intra-Afghan Peace Negotiations, supporting the economic reconstruction of the country, and its integration into the Central Asian region. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to further promote the Afghanistan peace process and to support the goal of a durable political settlement.

 Minister Kamilov expressed his appreciation for the United States' continuous support for Uzbekistan’s defense modernization. Acting Secretary Miller and Foreign Minister Kamilov emphasized the importance of further enhancing bilateral military-to-military cooperation and shared their desire to continue close collaboration on issues such as counterterrorism, border security, and defense institutions’ capacity building.

 Acting Secretary Miller thanked Uzbekistan for its leadership role in advancing stability and security in Central Asia and reiterated that the United States will continue to support Uzbekistan’s’ sovereignty and independence and work with the countries of the region to address common security challenges.

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Yellow Icing

 

Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Andrew Sutton operates a de-icing truck to remove snow and ice from the wing of a P-8A Poseidon at Misawa Air Base, Japan, Nov. 10, 2020.

Flightline Friends

 

Dean “Diz” Laird, left, and Clarence “Bud” Anderson, both World War II ace pilots, watch as a KC-10 Extender taxis at Travis Air Force Base, Calif., Nov. 10, 2020. At 99 and 98 respectively, Laird and Anderson were high school students together in Auburn, Calif.

Bold Quest Event Builds Interoperable Fires for Tomorrow

Nov. 19, 2020 | BY Jim Garamone , DOD News

Despite coronavirus, the Joint Staff's Bold Quest event at Camp Atterbury, Indiana, allowed the services and partners to demonstrate and assess U.S. and coalition interoperability. 

The event concluded Nov. 4.

The event involved roughly 600 people — 400 in Indiana and roughly 200 attending virtually, said John Finch, the deputy demonstration branch chief with the Joint Staff's J-6 directorate. Finch works with the Joint Fires Integration Division in the Deputy Directorate for C4Cyber Integration.

"We're all about coalition interoperability in the kind of joint and combined fires and sensor-to-shooter interoperability," Finch said in a telephone interview. 

Bold Quest is an annual event that allows participants to assess systems and capabilities in a realistic operational environment.

At Camp Atterbury, Bold Quest assessed the way the U.S. services could work together and integrate different systems, as well as adding the capabilities of partner and allied nations, Finch said.

All of the capabilities in the demonstration work well in the laboratory, but Bold Quest tests to see if they will make the transition to the field. It is one thing for a system to work in a temperature-controlled lab, it is quite another to see if it works in a rainstorm or hurricane.

"Underneath that general heading, there are specific objectives that are determined by the priorities and the requirements that the services or the partner nations have at any given time," he said. "Some of what we did in this event … was integration of some of those areas to look at interoperability and movement of data and information across that sensor-to-shooter chain."

This means the integration of close-air support, tube artillery, rocket artillery, naval gunfire and more. It means combining intelligence from an observer with binoculars to unmanned aerial vehicles to manned platforms to satellites and more. 

All these objectives were integrated to look at a broader picture of the interoperability across different processes related to joint fires, Finch said.

The services and international partners went to Indiana to assess their systems and the tactics, techniques and procedures that go with them. Bold Quest gave them the data needed to make decisions about what changes or improvements need to be made, Finch said.

The 400 participants at Camp Atterbury were scattered in different locations and buildings. The 2nd Battalion 150th Field Artillery of the Indiana National Guard provided the guns and fired more than 100 rounds over two days in support of Bold Quest. 

COVID-19 severely limited international travel, but many international partners were able to take advantage of the distributed aspects of the event, Finch said. 

Coronavirus: DOD Response

There were six partner nations: Canada, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. 

Finch hopes Bold Quest 2021 will allow partner nations to participate in person. His team is already planning what will occur at Camp Atterbury next year.

Flight Line

 

An Air Force B-52H Stratofortress trains with Colombian air force fighter jets over Colombia, Nov. 8, 2020, during Brother's Shield, a bilateral training event.

Welcome Home

 

A Missouri Air National Guardsman shares a moment with a loved one upon returning home to Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 18, 2020, after an overseas deployment.