Fort Irwin High Desert Warrior, September 2020

Volume 16, Number 9
Published in the interest of the National Training Center and Fort Irwin community • home.army.mil/Irwin
September 2020
Inside
Virtual Schools
How parents, teachers and students are fairing after the first month of online learning
See full story, Page 2 Flu Vaccine
Flu season has begun. Here are your three options for getting the flu vaccine.
See full story, Page 3 The Army’s male spouse
What it’s like to be married to military, as a
man.
See full story, Page 4 Suicide Awareness Month
Warning signs and resources of suicide
See full story, Page 5
Blackhorse continues to
show strength of OPFOR
in Rotation 20-09
Welcome Home 759th EOD
Soldiers assigned to the 759th EOD rolled into a dark and empty parking lot after a nine-month deployment. New COVID-19 measures prevented groups of families and friends to attend.
Story and Photo by Casey Slusser
NTC/Fort Irwin Garrison Public Affairs
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — It was an unusual homecoming for the 759th Explo- sive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Company. Instead of marching into a room full of excited families, on Aug. 14 these soldiers, following COVID-19 protocols, arrived home muted of the traditional fan fair and welcoming community.
Company Commander, Cpt. Claire Henkel and 1st Sgt. James Bohanon said they prepared the families and 27 soldiers of the National Training Center and Fort Irwin, notifying them that their home- coming would be uncommon amid CO- VID-19. The 759th EOD will be placed on a mandatory 14-day quarantine, mitigation measures put in place to protect the com- munity from the virus.
“With most of our personnel geographi- cally dispersed, the two person EOD team, composed of a Team leader and Team Member, have to depend on each other and become very close knit,” Bohanon said.
“It feels good to be back in the states,” he said upon arrival. “It feels like a whole new world coming home and just dealing with the requirements of being home and dealing with COVID.”
Henkel said the overall mission was suc- cessful. She explained that in addition to being deployed, the 759th EOD supported more than 94 incidents at Fort Irwin, the training area, and in the 89 surrounding counties.
See WELCOME, Page 7
By Cpl. Angel Heraldez
11th Armored Cavalry Regiment Public Affairs
NATIONAL TRAINING CENTER, Calif. — When Rotational Training Units (RTU) come to the National Training Center, there are some things that may imme- diately come to mind. One thought stands true and that is that once their vehicles hit the sandy desert, they will know that the 11th Armored
Cavalry Regiment is on the other side of the field ready to bring the best training op- portunities to them. The 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment has the privileged position of being the Opposing Force (OPFOR) during training rotations, allowing them to master the fundamentals of maneuver warfare and mission command, and to bring a le- thal and realistic environment to the NTC and opposing
training units.
During Rotation 20-09,
NTC welcomed the “Raider” Brigade, 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, based out of Fort Carson, Colorado. The oppor- tunity and ability to get back out there and continue the training schedule is one that soldiers have all been looking forward to at the National Training Center.
See BLACKHORSE, Page 4 NTC and Garrison re-open services, loosen restrictions amid COVID-19
By Janell J. Lewis Ford
NTC/Fort Irwin Garrison Public Affairs
FORT IRWIN, Calif. — As the nation ap- proaches a holiday weekend, many soldiers and residents at the National Training Center and Fort Irwin questioned what Labor Day could look like in the midst of COVID-19.
In San Bernardino County, there are more than 47,000 cases and 700 plus deaths.
“We’ve got some good news to share with the community and I’m excited to share,” NTC’s Commanding General, Brig. Gen. David Lesper- ance, said. “We’ve made some modifications to the General Order and we’re going to open up some
additional services as a result of that.”
Those changes in- clude:
-Approval for all leaves and passes unrelated to permanent changes of station (PCSs), as well as exceptions to policies (ETPs), have been del- egated to 06-level com- manders and those com- manders can delegate to
NTC’s Commanding General, Brig. Gen. David Lesperance conducts live Facebook update with the community.
See RE-OPEN, Page 5
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