Fort Stewart’s 2nd Armored Brigade Soldiers Come Home After Atlanta Community Vaccination Center Mission Completion

ATLANTA, GA, UNITED STATES

06.15.2021

Story by Capt. Sean Minton 

Federal Vaccine Response

FORT STEWART, Ga. – The final 24 Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, who served in Task Force Marne in support of the Atlanta Community Vaccination Center, returned Tuesday, June 8 to Fort Stewart. The arrival of the last 2nd ABCT Soldiers marks the end of the nearly two and-a-half months of the whole-of-government response to COVID-19 in Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The CVC ended on a high note after surpassing 300,000 administered shots to the people of the Atlanta metropolitan area.
When the operation began on March 24, 2021, approximately 220 Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd ABCT, 3rd ID, were assigned to the Atlanta CVC task force to set up the operation and implement a plan born out of the collaboration between government agencies and private enterprise. The entities included the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Defense, Georgia Department of Public Health, Georgia Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency, Fulton County Board of Health, Atlanta-Fulton County Emergency Management Agency, and Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
“What led to our success here working with our civilian partners was the early coordination conducted with the team,” said Lt. Col. Steven Chadwick, the 3rd Bn, 67th AR, and Atlanta CVC military task force commander. “That early coordination really allowed us to understand the mission requirements here and how they intended to utilize our Title 10 team.”
The Soldiers from the 2nd ABCT, 3rd ID, had just returned in December 2020 from an unanticipated extended rotation in Europe due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Although the Atlanta CVC mission was unexpected, the Soldiers rose to the occasion.
“This was an exciting opportunity for me to get to treat Americans in a civilian setting, which is not something I get to do very often,” said Sgt. Shannon Pambrun, a medic assigned to the Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Bn, 67th AR, and one of the many trained vaccinators at the Atlanta CVC.
The initial goal for the Atlanta CVC was 6,000 shots per day. Pambrun explained that his team used the initial vaccination operation plans FEMA provided and augmented them.
“By the end of the time we were there, at the height of our vaccination days, we were doing upwards of 10,000 [shots] per day,” said Pambrun.
During the last week of April 2021, the 3rd Bn., 67th AR’s sister battalion in the 2nd ABCT, the 2nd Battalion, 69th Armor Regiment, completed a handover of operations. During the week of the transition on April 28, the CVC managed to administer a total of 12,726 shots – the most shots given on a single day for any mega-vaccine center in the country.
The day-to-day success of the vaccination hinged on Soldiers like Spc. Mike Florez, a tank gunner from 2nd Bn., 69th AR. He was a supervisor of the medical equipment and supplies for one of the several Atlanta CVC dispensing points. He noted the difference between this mission from his previous ones overseas. “When we deploy it was always the companies together or my tank crew together. For us to get to help out the community in Atlanta and then to have my company there, and to have the people tell us thank you, it was special for me,” Florez said.
When asked about the outcome of the Atlanta CVC, Lt. Col. George Bolton Jr., commander of the 2nd Bn., 69th AR, and the military task force commander once his unit relieved the 3rd Bn., 67th AR, said “Before we started, a lot of things were boarded up; the businesses, the restaurants, the tourism sites, the aquarium, and the hotels. Afterward, you can look around at your own metrics of success.”
The final vaccination count from the Atlanta CVC was 300,452 shots administered. This would not have been possible without the major contribution of 400 plus Soldiers from the 3rd Bn., 67th AR, and the 2nd Bn., 69th AR, in Fort Stewart’s 2nd armored brigade who worked every day for almost two and-a-half months. The total Task Force Marne Soldier count also included medical Soldiers from different units across the Division at Fort Stewart as well as from posts as far away as Hawaii and Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
“We were extremely humbled to have the opportunity to partner with high-quality professionals from multiple government agencies and private enterprise to serve the people of the Atlanta metro area,” said Col. Terry Tillis, 2nd ABCT, 3rd ID commander. “Our brigade’s primary mission prepares us to deploy forward and partner with people in foreign lands. However, this opportunity was something special for our 3rd Infantry Division “Dogface” Soldiers, to serve fellow Americans on the home front.”

• Date Taken: 06.15.2021
• Date Posted: 06.15.2021 15:51
• Story ID: 398991
• Location: ATLANTA, GA, US