Nevada Guard prepares to join coronavirus battle
CARSON CITY, Nev. — Nearly 100 Nevada National Guard Soldiers and Airmen will join the National Guard's COVID-19 response effort this week and join the other 17,000 Guardsmen across the nation already on duty battling the coronavirus, said Gov. Steve Sisolak on Wednesday.
The Soldiers and Airmen will be placed on state active duty and work under the direction of the governor but the compensation for the Guardsmen will come from federal funds. These are the first Nevada Guardsmen called upon to contribute to the response effort.
The military occupations of the Soldiers and Airmen have not been finalized, but it is likely the governor will call upon Guardsmen trained for medical, security, transportation, logistical and food services. The exact missions
and locations of the Guardsmen is being finalized, but it is likely the Soldiers and Airmen will be split evenly between southern and northern Nevada.
Across the nation, the National Guard provides a force of 450,000 Soldiers and Airmen capable of contributing to the response effort. The Nevada Guard includes about 3,100 Soldiers and 1,200 Airmen able to respond and assist any community in the Silver State.
Although the missions the governor will request from the Nevada National Guard are pending, familiar types of support the National Guard has been providing across the country include: working to increase medical capacity;
providing security at testing sites; managing food banks; delivering food and critical supplies; and disinfecting public spaces.
— In the Photo: Staff Sgt. Jennifer Nunes of the Nevada Army Guard's Medical Detachment takes temperatures of Nevada Military Department employees as they enter the Office of the Adjutant General campus today in Carson City, Nevada. Gov. Steve Sisolak said to today he will call about 100 Nevada Guard Soldiers and Airmen to state active duty in the near future to assist in the state's battle against the coronavirus. Photo by Sgt. Walter Lowell, Nevada Army Guard Public Affairs.