Al is serving as the Hawaii State and Pacific Regional Director for the Farm Service Agency (USDA) and was recently tasked as the USDA pandemic coordinator for Hawaii and Pacific Region.
COL (Ret) Allen ‘Al’ Frenzel
Resident Class of 1999
Al is serving as the Hawaii State and Pacific Regional Director for the Farm Service Agency (USDA) and was recently tasked as the USDA pandemic coordinator for Hawaii and Pacific Region.
COL (Ret) Allen ‘Al’ Frenzel
Resident Class of 1999
Tom assumed command of the New York District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on June 8, 2017. He is responsible for the Corps’ water resource development, navigation, and regulatory activities in northeastern New Jersey, eastern and south-central New York State, including the New York and New Jersey Harbor and Long Island, as well as areas of Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. He is also responsible for supporting FEMA Mission Assignments tied to disaster response, including the current COVID-19 Pandemic that’s had significant impacts across the tristate area and the Nation. New York District currently has more than 134 members of its 580+ workforce dedicated to the COVID-19 response. The District has assessed 35 Sites and constructed 4 Alternate Care Facilities (ACFs) that will provide 4,268 beds for additional patient capacity across New York City and the surrounding counties. The District has completed an Alternate Care Facility at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, which is open and accepting patients, and will be completing three more ACFs at Westchester County Center, SUNY Old Westbury, and Stony Brook University by April 25, 2020. “This has been an absolute humbling experience for me to be surrounded by true American Heroes represented by our Corps of Engineers Workforce: the Contractors that are building the facilities, the Health Professionals that are and will operate the facilities and all the Federal, State, and Local officials that demonstrated superior leadership to guide our response mission. This is a tremendous effort and a fantastic example of how everyone at all levels of government can come together in the face of adversity and work to overcome it.”
Colonel Thomas D. ‘Tom’ Asbery
Resident Class of 2016
In the Kentucky National Guard (KYNG), we currently have about 1000 members engaged in supporting some aspect of our state’s pandemic response. Our folks are involved with everything from food distribution center support for those in need, to additional security presence at numerous hospitals around the state, to staffing a medical call-in center. Perhaps the most significant mission thus far was converting the Louisville Fairgrounds & Exposition Center into an Acute Care Facility (ACF). Its current capacity is 276 beds and can be expanded to 2000 if needed. This ACF is fully staffed by medical professionals from the KYNG, both the Air & Army components. Virtually everything we do is in conjunction with the Department of Public Health, Emergency Management, Kentucky Office of Homeland Security, and other state and local government entities. Thus, from a military perspective, it genuinely represents a joint effort. This is not only a whole of government response but a whole of community response. To me, the militarily pertinent aspect of our response is that while we’re engaged, as described above, at the same time we have members of the KYNG deployed in Afghanistan, Iraq, the Horn of Africa, and even domestically to the Southwest border. I’m proud of the responsiveness and professionalism of our folks.
BG Haldane ‘Hal’ B. Lamberton
Resident Class of 2009
The Adjutant General of Kentucky
Steve Turner, DDE’ 20
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Tennessee National Guard Soldiers and Airmen have once again answered the Governor’s call. From testing the general public, to testing at nursing homes and department of correction facilities, Tennessee’s Task Force Medical conducted over 20,000 COVID tests by mid-April. I currently serve as the Executive Officer for the 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment (organized as an ABCT), and I’m consistently inspired by the dedication of our Citizen-Soldiers. Just a few weeks prior to the call for COVID response, many of our Soldiers were performing search and rescue missions in response to the early March tornados that ravaged middle Tennessee. Almost immediately after the Governor asked for our help, more than 200 medics and medical providers volunteered to put themselves in harm’s way to combat the outbreak in Tennessee. Simultaneously, we transitioned the Regimental staff to focus on contingency planning for other COVID missions and the refining of our rapidly changing training plan. Though most of the tasks associated with COVID response and or the missions we are currently planning are not typical missions for an ABCT, they do reinforce the fact that all formations should be flexible, adaptive, and agile during times of need. Lastly, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my fellow classmates in Seminar 2, DDE 20. While we spent our nights navigating the rigor of Theater Strategy and Campaigning II paper submission and the final forum, several members of my team are medical providers or serve in civilian / military positions called on to respond to the COVID-19 outbreak. Their dedication to completing course material and participating in group projects was truly inspiring. Staying focused to finish DDE is a challenge by itself, but doing it through a pandemic response is even more impressive.
LTC Steven C. ‘Steve’ Turner
Distance Class of 2020
Executive Officer, 278th Armored Cavalry Regiment (ABCT)
TNARNG
I am currently leading the Title 10 response for NORTHCOM and ARNORTH in New York City and FEMA Regions 1 and 2. My Headquarters and I deployed to NYC on March 24th. Joint Task Force New York & New Jersey is providing command and control of federal Department of Defense active-duty forces within the states of New York and New Jersey in support of FEMA, the Lead Federal Agency, in COVID-19 response. This assistance is part of a whole-of-government response to the pandemic and is at the direction of U.S. Northern Command and U.S. Army North. TF-NY/NJ is filling three specific missions: 1) Provide medical professionals at field hospitals at the Javits New York Medical Station and Edison Field Medical Station in New Jersey; 2) Providing medical professionals to 11 New York City and two New Jersey hospitals; and 3) Providing mortuary affairs support in New York.
MG William A. ‘Bill’ Hall
Resident Class of 2009
Commanding General, Joint Task Force-Civil Support
Jack is working as the Oklahoma National Guard Joint Task Force (OKNG JTF) Chief of Staff, planning and implementing the Oklahoma National Guard’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The OKNG JTF is responsible for coordinating with state and federal agencies to execute all military responses to civil authorities within the State of Oklahoma. As of April 20th, Oklahoma has a combined 210 Soldiers and Airmen on duty supporting civil authorities in a myriad of duties from distributing PPE from the Strategic National Stockpile, to delivering COVID-19 test samples to the laboratory at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Jack has been assigned to the OKNG JTF for the past several years and coordinated Joint responses for Hurricane Harvey, the 2019 Tulsa River Flooding, and the current COVID-19 pandemic.
COL Jack R. Ritter
Resident Class of 2015
Chief of Staff, Joint Task Force
Oklahoma National Guard