Putting everything in the middle

Photo By Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera | A Soldier from TF Tiger is uses an electric pallet truck to move boxes to another side of the warehouse after they have been counted. The warehouse is recently rented to the State of Michigan and the state is using it to keep all their COVID-19 supplies in. (Photo by Michigan Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera)  

LANSING, MI, UNITED STATES

05.29.2020

Story by Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera 

Michigan National Guard

LANSING, Mich. – Michigan is changing where it stores all the equipment that is essential to fighting the pandemic.
Where once the state was storing everything within seven different warehouses in the state, those warehouses are closing and everything is coming to one central location in Lansing. There to operate the warehouse is Task Force Tiger with the Michigan Army National Guard.
“There are various needs all over the state for PPE (personal protective equipment), beds, and everything in here is something that somebody needs,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Randell Hartlerode. “By storing it in Lansing, in the middle of the state and one location, I believe is a great idea and a great answer.”
Hartlerode said TF Tiger is doing more than just loading the warehouse. After unloading the equipment they empty all the boxes and count every single item. Then they seal all the boxes back up and organize them, so anyone walking in could find the needed items easily.
“For them it’s motivation to see how quickly and safely they can unload a truck and get it inventoried and wrap it back up and put into long term storage,” said Hartlerode.
Over the last couple of months the TF Tiger has had several different missions, and the Soldiers were part of those from working at food distribution centers, to supplying the TCF Regional Care Facility, and managing a much smaller warehouse for the Detroit Detention Center, the TF Tigers were there working at them all. Now many of the Soldiers who comprise the task force are in Lansing managing a warehouse that dwarfs any the Soldiers had previously worked in.
“It’s really cool to see everyone working together to get the job done -- everybody’s pitching in. It’s about focusing on the mission at hand and everybody is working it out together,” said Staff Sgt. Mike Wallace, a technical engineer.
TF Tiger is not just one unit of Soldiers who have worked together for several years. There are a handful of units who all fall in under the 177th Military Police Brigade who are in the task force. Most of the Soldiers like Wallace are in Engineer units, and so have experience with the heavy equipment they need to operate in the warehouse like the forklifts and the electric pallet trucks. All the Soldiers are happy to be helping their state.
“When I joined, I was told the National Guard is always there in emergency situations,” said Wallace. “In my career, I’ve been to Iraq and Afghanistan with the National Guard, but I haven’t been called up for a state duty and I’ve always hoped to fulfill the need for my community.”
This almost didn’t happen as Wallace was about to retire last month, so in order to fulfill his dream when he first entered the Guard he has postponed his retirement.
“I didn’t hesitate to join the mission,” said Wallace. “Even though I was really close and counting the days, ‘sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.’”
Some of the Soldiers are doing more than just the COVID-19 mission. A few who were stationed at the Detroit Detention Center warehouse last Wednesday night were tasked with going back to the warehouse and taking many of the beds that were stored there up to Midland to help with the evacuation.
“A lot of the guys are getting really good exposure to what state response missions are,” said Spc. Tamkeen Lawton, a generator mechanic with the 182nd Field Artillery Regiment. “It’s a good opportunity to get some first-hand experience.”
TF Tiger is providing the work at the warehouse. They are the ones who are unloading and reloading the trucks, and are counting all the items and organizing them all to be accurate. They are doing all this for the State of Michigan and the State Police who have rented out the 135,000 square foot warehouse and will be taking the orders, which the Soldiers will then load onto another truck.
“I think it’s great that they tasked us to help all the entities because it’s part of our job as National Guard to be one of those first responding groups. It’s nice when everybody is part of the end game,” said Lawton.
In the first day on the job the Soldiers unloaded and counted 2.7 million pieces of equipment. They are looking forward to doing this for several more days, either until they are tasked with another mission or TF Tiger is no longer needed to support COVID-19. (Story by Michigan Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Tegan Kucera)

• Date Taken: 05.29.2020
• Date Posted: 05.29.2020 16:43
• Story ID: 371079
• Location: LANSING, MI, US