Photo By Maj. Jesse Manzano | National Guard Bureau Chief meets Florida Guardsmen on the front lines of the COVID-19...... read more read more
MIAMI – (April 2, 2020) – For more than two weeks, Florida National Guard soldiers and airmen have been operating around-the-clock to support local and state authorities as they work to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Florida. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed by their neighbors across the state, or by Air Force General Joseph Lengyel, Chief of the National Guard Bureau, in Washington, DC.
Accompanied by Air Force Maj. Gen. James Eifert, Florida’s Adjutant General, Army Col. Bob Carruthers, Florida’s Joint Task Force Commander, and Army Colonel Ricardo Roig, Commander of the Florida National Guard’s 50th Regional Support Group (RSG), Lengyel saw two drive-thru Community Based Testing Sites (CBTS) in South Florida and met some of the Soldiers on the front lines of the COVID-19 response.
“Having Gen. Lengyel come to our test site tells us we are doing a good job, that we are doing things right and it is working,” said Staff Sgt. Benjamin Johnson, a combat medic with the 3rd Battalion of the 54th Security Forces Assistance Brigade. “From top leadership to the private, everyone has done an outstanding job in making the mission successful so far.”
Lengyel visited the Hard Rock Stadium and C.B. Smith Park CBTS locations in Miami-Dade and Broward counties respectively. Since opening over a week ago, both sites have collectively administered over 14,000 sample collections and become model partnerships between the Guard, local governments and the private sector.
“The soldiers of the 50th RSG were honored during the site visit conducted by Gen. Lengyel to two of our CBTS locations in South Florida,” said Roig. “The state of Florida entrusted us with an important mission at a critical time, and I am extremely proud of the work my soldiers have done to meet this challenge.”
Florida has more than 1,600 Guardsmen activated supporting five CBTS locations, seven airport screening operations, and providing logistics and planning support at the State Emergency Operations Center and State Logistics Readiness Center throughout the state, with at least two more CBTS’s opening in the coming days.
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| Date Taken: | 04.04.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 04.04.2020 12:55 |
| Story ID: | 366610 |
| Location: | MIAMI GARDENS, FL, US |
| Web Views: | 180 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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