FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. — Fort Leonard Wood operations planners are currently seeking 19 Army Reserve noncommissioned officer volunteers to fill active-duty operational support roles with the 43rd Adjutant General Battalion.

The six-month mission is in support of the Soldiers and trainees assigned to the installation’s quarantine and isolation barracks and begins as early as Oct. 15.

“We determined that we need support from the Army Reserve to fill positions,” said John Rose, Maneuver Support Center of Excellence current operations chief. “Currently we detail Soldiers from various other organizations — mostly NCOs or drill sergeants — to help the 43rd AGB, but by taking people from the brigade training units to do this mission, it hurts them and their training mission.”

Rose said the Reserve volunteers can be from any military occupational specialty and do not have to have any drill sergeant training.

“The basic requirements are E-5 and above with a military driver’s license,” he said. “There are some other requirements that come into play but those are things we can satisfy here.”

He added that what’s most important is to find NCOs who are skilled at mentoring.

“We’re just looking for some really good NCOs who can come into a difficult environment,” Rose said. “That’s why MOS is irrelevant — good NCOs are across the board. You’re dealing with Soldiers — mostly trainees, but there are some permanent party — who are naturally in a stressful environment because they just got here, or they’ve only been here for a month or two, and now they’re in this quarantine or isolation situation. That adds to their stress.”

Rose said the basic idea is to keep those in quarantine or isolation from sitting around “twiddling their thumbs.”

“You have to keep good order and discipline, fire safety, everything else involved with taking care of Soldiers — feeding them, morale and welfare, the whole nine yards,” he said.

For Staff Sgt. Chad Blake, a drill sergeant from the 2nd Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment who has been assigned to the quarantine and isolation barracks since March, helping the Army’s newest Soldiers overcome the COVID-19 hurdle has been enjoyable.

“Top to bottom, it’s an installation-wide effort we get to help out with,” Blake said. “Working with the trainees, talking to them — we’re helping them get through this; we’re keeping them motivated and positive. It’s an enjoyable experience.”

Reserve NCOs interested in volunteering for this ADOS opportunity are encouraged to visit the Army’s operations and contingency plans website at https://mobcop.aoc.army.pentagon.mil (users must be on a Department of Defense network).

“The NCOs we’re looking for, they’ve got to manage what’s going on with the trainees; they’ve got to take care of them,” Rose said. “The biggest thing, though, is that they have to mentor the trainees — let them know they’re going to be great Soldiers … and they’re going to move on and do great things for the Army.”