John Pippy, DDE ‘17
One of the most rewarding aspects of being a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard is our ability to respond quickly when the citizens of our Commonwealth need us. There’s a special sense of pride and duty that comes along with aiding our fellow Pennsylvanians. When providing military support to civil authorities, I serve as the PA Task Force North (PTF-N) Commander and the FEMA Region 3 Homeland Response Force (HRF) Commander. These are joint organizations that are comprised of extremely capable Soldiers and Airmen with many specialties ranging from combat arms, engineer, military police, medical, chemical, logistics and other capabilities. In addition, the units identified as the Homeland Response Force and CBRN Task Force elements within the HRF conduct specialized training every year and are able to respond very quickly to domestic emergencies. Our CBRN Task Force unit was instrumental in the initial planning, set up, and the first few weeks of testing at the Montgomery County Community Based Testing Site-COVID-19 (CBTS); initially testing over 3700 individuals in a two-week period. They seamlessly integrated with the forces from PTF-South and transitioned the mission over to PTF-S after training them on safe testing and decon procedures. Following that first CBTS mission, members from the CBRN TF also helped plan, train and set up a second COVID-19 CBTS in Luzerne County. We responded quickly to mission needs starting in mid-March and currently we have had over 250 Soldiers and Airman from PTF-N supporting missions from testing sites, to medical site support, medical planning and a host of other support missions. Everyone is motivated and proud to serve.
COL John R. Pippy
Distance Class of 2017
Commander, 55 MEB, 28th ID
Commander, HRF FEMA Reg. III
PAARNG
