Photo By 1st Lt. Lauren Warner | New York Army National Guard Soldiers assigned to the 466th Medical Company, Area...... read more read more
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CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, N.Y. — Preparing for an overseas deployment is always tough and demanding, according to New York Army National Guard Maj. Jason Cossey, the commander of the 466th Area Support Medical Company.
Preparing for deployment during a pandemic makes things even more difficult, Cossey said as his company hit day 14 of a 19-day annual training at Camp Smith.
“We lost a significant amount of training time that we would have had to help prepare for the deployment,” Cossey said. “But, everyone has adjusted well, and the unit has really rallied together during these tough times.”
To cope with social distancing requirements, the 466th organized its 46 Soldiers and officers into cohorts of ten each. These teams moved, trained, ate and lived together to minimize exposure to the COVID-19 virus and comply with Center for Disease Control (CDC) social distancing requirements.
All Soldiers were screened for COVID-19 by completing a symptom check twice a day and daily temperature readings, Cossey said.
In addition to these precautions, Soldiers were required to wear protective facemasks to limit any potential exposures.
The 466th Soldiers said that wearing a mask was tedious during training, but that they understood the necessity of keeping themselves and their battle buddies safe.
Everyone adjusted well to the CDC guidelines and recommendations, as all the Soldiers were already practicing this in their civilian lives, since New York State already had a mask policy and social distancing in place, Cossey said.
As a mobilizing unit, every drill counts, Cossey said, and losing time during the pandemic was another problem to solve.
The New York Army National Guard required units to alternate their training schedule to virtual drills. This meant that the unit lost training time during the months of April and May, he explained.
Originally, the unit was supposed to complete weapons qualification at Fort Drum, New York, during their April drill. In May, the Soldiers were scheduled to conduct land navigation and driver training at Camp Smith during their drill dates.
The decision was made to switch those tasks to annual training and conduct mandatory classroom training on line, Cossey said. The pandemic also altered plans for the 466th when it came to the logistics of their pre-mobilization training, Cossey said
The original plan was for the unit to conduct their pre-mobilization training at Fort Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania, but then Fort Indiantown Gap shut down.
“We had a very solid plan to go to Fort Indiantown Gap, but when the pandemic hit and installations started shutting down, we told our Soldiers that everything was going to have to be very fluid,” First Sgt. Scott Kyle said.
Since New York was the epicenter of the pandemic, there was increased concern for Soldiers traveling across state lines, Cossey said.
With few weeks’ notice, their training plan changed to the Camp Smith Training Site. The original training plan had to be completely revised and it continues to be modified as additional requirements are thrown their way due to COVID-19, Kyle said.
Despite the changes, Soldiers were still able to complete all required training during their pre-mobilization at Camp Smith.
Some of the Soldiers were required to attend special school training for their respective jobs. But due to the COVID-19 restrictions, some of these courses were postponed or cancelled all together, Cossey said.
Thankfully, they have been able to work with the schools around the country based on their individual state requirements and have been able to push 95% of their Soldiers through, he added.
All the medics are required to attend a five-day trauma training course prior to mobilization, now scheduled for July, just weeks before the unit has to depart from their families for a 10-month deployment.
However, to comply with the CDC guidelines, the Soldiers attending this training are also required to quarantine for 14 days on the front end of their course. This will turn a 5-day training into nearly 3 weeks.
In addition to the added-on time away from family, some of the Soldiers from the 466th volunteered for the COVID-19 response mission that began in March. These Soldiers have already been away from home for weeks, Cossey said.
One of these is Spc. Olivia Mannetti, a combat medic. Since March, Mannetti has conducted sick call for Soldiers working on the COVID-19 mission at Camp Smith Training Site.
Despite being away from her family since March, Mannetti said that she was thankful for the experience she received while being a part of the COVID-19 mission.
And, she added, she is looking forward to the upcoming deployment. “It is what I signed up for,” Mannetti explained.
Spc. Tom Gallino said the company’s training period was a great experience despite the obstacles the pandemic threw at them.
Despite the company being broken up into smaller cohorts due to the pandemic restrictions, they have still been able to conduct quality training, Gallino said.
He has become more confident and proficient in his skill set being able to work alongside the physician assistants assigned to the unit, he added,
The cohorts consist of junior enlisted Soldiers with a senior non-commissioned officer in charge of each group. These groups were broken down by rank structure and Soldiers were placed into groups they would not typically work with in the company, Cossey said.
The small cohort groups have allowed for friendly competition and tight bonds to be formed, Cossey explained.
“Junior enlisted Soldiers, some of whom are brand new to the Army, are getting senior mentors that they wouldn’t typically have, for that one on one relationship,” Kyle emphasized.
“I’ve always found the team cohesion admirable between the brothers and sisters that we have here,” Gallino said. “The Army has the best medical training in the United States, you can’t find that anywhere else,” he added.
The company will mobilize later in the summer for deployment to the Central Command area of responsibility.
| Date Taken: | 06.14.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 06.16.2020 15:01 |
| Story ID: | 372234 |
| Location: | PEEKSKILL, NEW YORK, US |
| Web Views: | 67 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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