Montana Guard to continue COVID-19 mission through June

BILLINGS, Mont. (Tribune News Service) — Yellowstone County residents started filing into Cedar Hall early Wednesday afternoon, and most left in less than 30 minutes with their first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in their arm. On their way in and out, a specialist in the Montana National Guard greeted them and told them to have a nice day.

Since the second week of March, dozens of members from multiple units of the Army and Air National Guard have filled most of the staff positions at the MetraPark and Shrine Auditorium vaccine clinics. The assignment is the latest since their activation by then-Gov. Steve Bullock in April 2020, and they're slated to remain at least through June of this year.

"The big lesson I suppose is to be adaptable. Be able to go in 10 directions at once, if needed. And I think we all kind of have that mindset already, but some of these missions come up, and we have two weeks advance notice. Some of them, it's two hours," said Tech. Sgt. Brennan McCloney of the Air National Guard charged with personnel management of several dozen soldiers and airmen assigned to the Billings area.
All 50 states, plus three territories and the District of Columbia activated their National Guard soldiers and airmen following the explosion of COVID-19 cases in the United States. The number of Guard members engaged in humanitarian missions across the country during the past 12 months peaked at 47,000, according to the National Guard Bureau, the highest number since the federal response to Hurricane Katrina.

The declaration of a nationwide emergency allowed U.S. governors to shift the cost of mobilizing their state's National Guard to Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will continue to cover this cost through Sept. 30, 2021, according to a White House memorandum issued in January by the Biden administration. Under this "Title 32 Status," Montana's citizen-soldiers and airmen will remain under the control of Gov. Greg Gianforte while still being funded by the federal government.

Roughly 29,500 members of the Guard are still on active duty nationally. Most are aiding with the vaccine rollout, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevented reported has resulted in over 154 million doses administered as of Thursday.

In response to COVID-19 cases creeping into Montana, Bullock activated the first Guard members last April. Posted at the state's airports and train stations, they helped screen travelers for symptoms of COVID-19. On April 20, military and civilian leadership divided the state into three zones from which Guard members could respond when needed. These ready response forces were assigned to Billings, Helena and Great Falls.