By Kevin Fleming, U.S. Army Sustainment Command
It was early in the morning on March 14, a Saturday, when the team received their instructions: in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, they needed to build quarantine sites within the U.S. for hundreds of returning soldiers as soon as possible.
Soldiers redeploying from overseas locations are required to enter a 14-day mandatory quarantine in one of several locations across the U.S., including this site on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. | Photo credit DVIDS/Army Maj. Deirdra Johnson
Within 24 hours, the first site at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was ready to hold 300 people.
“It’s never been done this fast before in the history of the Army,” said Jim Coffman, deputy to the executive director, Acquisition Integration Management Center, U.S. Army Sustainment Command. “The planes [filled with returning soldiers] were already in the air when we started.”
A few days prior, on March 11, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper issued guidance on expanded restrictions for military members traveling to and from certain countries with an elevated travel health-notice due to outbreaks of COVID-19. Among those restrictions was an order for service members to self-isolate for 14 days at home.
Housing options were needed for returning military members who lacked appropriate quarters where they could isolate themselves. Hence, it was necessary to rapidly build the first three quarantine sites, two at Fort Bliss, Texas, and another at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
The facilities were built primarily through the Army’s Logistics Civil Augmentation Program, which has a set of contracted agreements with private companies that enable rapid construction of what Coffman called “life support areas” or “small cities” that provide a full-range of services, including WiFi.
The quarantine sites include laundry facilities, sleeping arrangements, showers, fire protection and recreation areas.
Soldiers of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss, Texas, relax as they await the end of a 14-day quarantine.
“[These locations] include basically everything you need to run a city, and they are scalable in size,” Coffman said.
Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg and of the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division at Fort Bliss have been the primary users of these new quarantine sites, but the locations are expected to house more returning soldiers in the months to come.
“The new facilities are not luxurious and have required refinement as soldiers started to occupy them,” said Col. Matthew Hamilton, commander of the 406th Army Field Support Brigade at Fort Bragg.
“But in these difficult times, it is imperative for us to be sure the community and the rest of our force is as safe as possible.
“We trust our soldiers to understand the need for certainty about their health status and to face this time in good spirits.”
USO El Paso is delivering supplies to quarantined troops at Fort Bliss, Texas.
“Soldiers quarantined at Fort Bliss, Texas, after returning from their overseas deployments continue to make the best of their unexpected situation,” said Command Sgt. Maj. Robert Cobb, senior enlisted adviser, 1st Armored Division, in a Facebook post March 23.
“I’m always impressed by the incredible resiliency of our soldiers.”
As the Army seeks to further protect the force and communities from exposure to COVID-19, more quarantine sites are either under construction or planned at Fort Lee, Virginia; Fort Benning, Georgia; Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri; and Fort Jackson, South Carolina. Another quarantine location is tentatively planned at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
Military contractors quickly established this 14-day quarantine site at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to accommodate 600 Soldiers of the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. | Photo credit DVIDS/Army Maj. Deirdra Johnson
Many of these quarantine locations are being built in support of the U.S. Training and Doctrine Command. Due to Army-wide travel restrictions, many newly trained soldiers are unable to move directly to their receiving units. These quarantine locations will also give these soldiers a place to stay at their current training sites as they await orders, freeing up space for incoming recruits and trainees.
“We are setting up these facilities to hold these troops until we can get them moved,” Coffman said.
“This will enable the Army to keep recruiting and training.”
-This story originally appeared on DVIDShub.net. It has been edited for USO.org.
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