GUARD’S TRAINING set amid outbreak.

Protective measures planned for soldiers

With the promise of adhering to strict measures to protect service members from covid-19 infection, the Arkansas National Guard will move forward with combat training at Fort Chaffee and Camp Robinson this summer.

“There comes a time when the Guard [has] to come together to do maneuvers and train together as an organization,” Guard spokesman Bob Oldham said. “That’s what this annual training helps accomplish.”

For the soldiers’ “Exportable Combat Training Capability” at Fort Chaffee, about 4,300 guardsmen will report July 4 to their respective armories before they “ascend” on the base near Fort Smith, Oldham said. Their training is scheduled to last through July 17.

During a news conference Thursday, Gov. Asa Hutchinson addressed the training period for the state’s soldiers and airmen, saying the decision to move forward with it was made by the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. The safety protocols also were dictated by the bureau, he said.

Oldham said the guardsmen will be screened at their armory locations and then be issued two cotton masks and hand sanitizer. Roughly 30 to 50 soldiers will be assigned to a “bubble” after they arrive at the base, and each group will report to each training location separately. After the training ends at one location, all of the equipment will be sanitized before the next bubble reports there, he said.

Strict safety protocols have been the norm for guardsmen and airmen since the start of the covid-19 emergency, Guard officials said.

Lt. Col. Brian Mason, a Guard spokesman, said safety was a priority during the activation of more than

570 guardsmen for civil disturbance missions across the state earlier this month in response to protests over the police treatment of Black Americans.

At the end of the mission, everyone was tested for covid-19. Only one tested positive, and that soldier was asymptomatic, he said.

Testing for covid-19 will be available for everyone who takes part in training later this summer.

“Any person testing positive for covid-19 will be provided for and cared for in an appropriate setting based on their medical condition,” Mason said. “He or she will remain in a military status for the duration until they have recovered.”

Oldham said if one person in an assigned bubble tests positive, he or she will be sent off for medical care or quarantine. Additionally, everyone else in that bubble will be tested.

The Guard took a waitand-see approach with training while the pandemic continued, Oldham said.

“We’ve purposely pushed the training dates back to see how covid-19 was going to play out, and we’re getting to the back end of it,” he said.

Many soldiers and airmen, Oldham pointed out, are college students and they need to finish their training before they begin their fall classes.

Mason said annual training is necessary so that teams, squads and platoons are better prepared for future missions.

“The Arkansas National Guard must be able to organize, train and equip its Guardsmen in all conditions, to include a pandemic,” he said.

Testing for covid-19 will be available for everyone who takes part in training later this summer.