The U.S. Military Academy will welcome back the cadets in the Class of 2020 at the end of the month for graduation and the rest of the Corps of Cadets in late June for summer training. The Army continues to ship hundreds of Soldiers to basic training every week, and West Point is adapting its summer training cycle to the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A critical piece to summer training is the support received from Forces Command (FORSCOM) to help train and mentor the cadets. This year, the academy will begin welcoming a task force of Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 10th Mountain Division from Fort Polk, Louisiana, in mid-June.
“We are adjusting readiness activities to the COVID-19 operational environment,” said Gen. Michael X. Garrett, commander of U.S. Forces Command. “Supporting West Point summer training is just one example of how we are adapting around the Army.”
The task force and the remainder of the corps will arrive staggered to enable the testing of each person for COVID-19 upon arrival. Academy and Garrison West Point leadership started developing a deliberate and detailed reception, staging, onward movement and integration (RSOI) plan in March to prepare for the return of the corps and the task force’s arrival.
“The Class of 2020 will lead the corps through this process as a part of their transition to Basic Officer Leader Course and graduation ceremony,” said Lt. Gen. Darryl Williams, superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy. “With the help of Army leadership, West Point has the capabilities to quickly test all inbound cadets and Soldiers using the latest testing equipment available.”
Keller Army Community Hospital transformed its former labor and delivery ward into a COVID-19 ward and secured two GeneXpert testing analyzers and the necessary supplies to test more than 8,000 cadets and task force Soldiers between June and August, Capt. Jeffrey Baker, the officer-in-charge of the KACH laboratory, said.
The ward, which currently has no patients, was toured by Garrett May 7, as part of his visit to West Point to learn about and inspect the measures being put into place before the Soldiers from the 10th Mountain Division arrive.
“The conditions are set and resources in place to protect the Soldiers and cadets and execute the summer training mission,” Garrett said.
The process of transforming the vacant labor and delivery ward into a COVID-19 ward took about three weeks, Col. Chad Haley, chief of the Department of Surgery at KACH, said. The ward had been completely stripped and needed to be put back together from scratch. It now has two intensive care unit beds and six more intermediate care ward beds. The ventilation system in the entire ward has been changed over to ensure negative pressure, which keeps air in the ward from entering the rest of the hospital.
The ward is separated from the rest of the hospital via a temporary barrier, and nurses and doctors working in the ward wear blue scrubs, and when they leave, change into clean green scrubs. Necessary equipment such as ventilators and a chest x-ray machine have been added in advance to reduce the contact between the ward and the rest of the hospital.
The measures in place will enable the staff at Keller to care for any COVID-19 patients while also allowing the hospital to care for any non-coronavirus medical needs that occur during training.
“The tour was very important,” Col. Brett Venable, KACH commander, said. “The leadership of FORSCOM saw first-hand that we have the resources to take care of their task force.”
Along with his tour of the COVID-19 ward, Garrett received an overview of the West Point community response playbook for COVID-19 and measures put in place to protect the force and community.
He finished his visit with a small group of representatives from throughout the academy and garrison who provided a detailed breakdown of the plans for summer training and beyond, and the adjustments made compared to previous years to mitigate the risks associated with COVID-19.
“Gen. Garrett was very pleased with the operation and capabilities of the COVID ward and appreciative of the staff for their efforts and their leadership during this COVID-19 pandemic,” Venable said. “I’m extremely proud of the team at Keller for coming together during this pandemic and taking care of the West Point community.”
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