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CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE, CORTLANDT MANOR, N.Y. -- When Operation COVID-19 began March 9, 2020, dozens of volunteers from the New York Guard state defense force responded as part of the New York National Guard COVID-19 response.
More than 90 New York Guard members were among the 3,600 New York Military Forces members mobilized in the state’s pandemic response. New York Guard members were on duty across the state, working to assist in command posts, delivering food, and assisting in COVID-19 testing.
“We, as New York Guard soldiers, have accepted that challenge to serve our fellow citizens and I thank them for the outstanding job that they did,” said Brig. Gen. David Warager, the commander of the New York Guard.
One of those on the ground from the beginning response was Spc. Christopher Yadanza of the 244th Medical Group. Yadanza, a civilian Emergency Medical Technician, served on mission as a medic with a Medical Strike Team with the lower Hudson Valley joint task force.
Within days of mobilizing in March, Yadanza and his team deployed to the Glen Island Testing Site in New Rochelle, the site of New York’s early hot spot for the pandemic outbreak.
A sense of urgency governed everything they did as they stood up the testing sites, Yadanza recalled. Work started at 5:45 a.m. and they would work well into the evening trying to test as many people as possible.
“We knew that while you can succeed fast, you can also fail fast and it was important that we were not afraid to try new things. It was also just as important to recognize when a process was not working,” Yadanza said.
Another New York Guard volunteer , 2nd Lt. Zachary Perkins, worked in the joint task force operations section at Camp Smith. The joint task force, responsible for the initial response in New Rochelle, included 500 Army and Air National Guard, New York Guard and Naval Militia service members.
Their 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week operation ranged from food distribution missions in Westchester County, support missions for Glen Island and Anthony Wayne Testing Sites and the SUNY Orange antibody testing site, 24-hour access control assignments for key county facilities, and daily bulk mask and hand sanitizer distribution missions to community and municipal sites across New York.
Perkins noted that the opportunity to serve would not have been possible without the excellent training provided by the New York Guard and the New York Division of Military and Naval Affairs staff.
“We train with the hope that we will never have to use these skills, but I am grateful that I was afforded this training and was ready to answer the call when I was needed,” Perkins said.
New York Guard Sgt. Patrick Cafone was another member who responded to the initial call. Cafone reported to Camp Smith Training Site March 16 as part of the garrison force, working in parallel with the joint task force. Cafone was charged with the logistics mission of managing and distributing vital Personal Protective Equipment, PPE.
During the course of the mission, Cafone was one of the unfortunate members who contracted the virus.
He vividly recalled the aches, fever and loss of visceral senses. Thankfully, he made a full recovery he said, and true to nature and his training, returned to duty as soon as he was cleared.
Like many New York Guard volunteers, Cafone has prior military service, having served in the United States Marine Corps for eight years before joining the New York City Corrections Department.
Cafone truly believes in public service and considers himself representative of the many who serve in the state’s pandemic response.
“I change from one uniform to another and that suits me just fine,” he said.
The service members in this article represent a small sample of the men and women who have answered the call during the COVID-19 pandemic. For over 100 years the New York Guard has served the people of New York as part of the state military forces.
Story by New York Guard Sgt. Richard Mayfield
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 07.14.2020 12:52 |
| Story ID: | 373873 |
| Location: | CAMP SMITH TRAINING SITE , NY, US |
| Web Views: | 418 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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