FORT IRWIN, Calif. — Brig. Gen. David Lesperance, along with the Medical and Garrison leadership at the National Training Center and Fort Irwin, addressed several topics in his first Facebook Live Community Update on Jan. 20.

The topics included the COVID-19 vaccine, domestic violence, listening sessions and rotational training.

“Hopefully the holidays were joyful and you made the most of our leave period and we’re all now well rested and ready to get back to work,” Lesperance said. “Last year certainly presented some challenges. Fortunately, we will begin the new year with some good news as we’ve begun COVID vaccinations on post. Weed Army Community Hospital has begun vaccinating our population in accordance with the DoD distribution plan. That doesn’t mean we can control cautions or let our guard down. We still must remain cautions and continue to follow CDC guidelines for masking, physical distancing and handwashing. But I think that many will agree that this is good news for our community and a sign for positive things to come.”

Lesperance encouraged everyone to continue to stay informed and reminded the community  that even though COVID-19 vaccinations have begun, the modified General Order remains unchanged, as well as the precautionary measures within the county and the state.

“I do realize we’re getting somewhat tired of the safeguards, but they’ve been effective,” he said. “Our conditions here remain more favorable than they are in the surrounding communities and our case rates remain low and manageable. I thank all of you for that.”

COVID-19 Vaccine

Weed Army Community Hospital began vaccinating healthcare workers and staff with the COVID-19 vaccine Dec. 23 in line with Department of Defense’s population schema.

WACH’s commander, Col. Nancy Parson, said the vaccine is currently being distributed in two phases and broke down those phases.

“We have vaccinated all who have opted in for our healthcare workers, our emergency services and our first responders and we’re currently vaccinating those who have opted in from child youth services, dining facilities and the Commissary and PX,” Parson said. “With the population schema, we’re still on Phase One and Phase Two includes all of our healthy soldiers and beneficiaries, all of our family members.”

Updates about how the military/DoD is vaccinating its members can be found on https://www.tricare.mil/covidvaccine or health.mil/coronavirus.

The community is also encouraged to get their flu vaccine and Lesperance added, “I would encourage everyone to seriously consider the vaccine. I would ask all leaders out there, when afforded the opportunity, lead by example and take the vaccine. The way we’re going to get through this as a community is by all the safe practices that were described by Col. Parson and Command Sgt. Maj. Blash and the Garrison team and all of us at some point taking the shot and providing that protection so our community can get back to some sort of normalcy in the foreseeable future.”

Domestic Violence Review Board

Lesperance said he thought it was important to address the sensitive topic of domestic violence and abuse.

“Something across the installation that we’re always monitoring closely, that is the subject of domestic violence,” he said. “Because of the continued social isolation, families and Soldiers, based upon the ongoing pandemic.”

He highlighted the prevention programs for those who find themselves isolated.

“We recognize that there’s not a lot of opportunities for breaks for our parents that are out there,” Lesperance said. “We now conduct a monthly, domestic violence review board where we look at prevention programs and review cases to make sure that all of the services that are available on the installation are afforded to those victims of domestic violence on the installation. And I think we have a pretty good understanding of where we sit as an installation and we’ve got a wonderful team of teams across the installation that are prepared to provide support and services to those victims that are out there.”

Lesperance ensured the community and viewers that incidents of domestic violence are properly reported and investigated. Leaders and authorities also intervene to create a safe environment for families.

“In all incidents of suspected domestic abuse, medical services are provided as necessary and command leadership channels are notified and a safety plan is established,” Lesperance said. “Individuals involved are referred to our Army Community Family Advocacy Program where they have access to victim advocates who assist with medical services, legal services, and support to include chaplain counseling and a safety plan.”

There are monthly, proactive seminars, workshops, marriage counseling and retreats offered to families, to include community awareness events to help strengthen relationships and create an atmosphere of trust, respect and integrity. NTC also has a 24-hour/ 7-day-a-week advocacy crisis hotline and the community’s outreach services are displayed at events, facilities and webpages to create awareness of the resources available to victims and families.

“We recognize the military lifestyle of our Soldiers and their families can be challenging,” Lesperance said. “We remain committed to creating a safe and thriving community of choice and continue to support victims and bring awareness of prevention of domestic violence. Domestic violence impacts family readiness, undermines Army values and is not tolerated at the National Training Center and Fort Irwin.”

Command Sgt. Maj. William Justice also encouraged soldiers to take advantage of this opportunity of canceled and delayed rotational training, to connect with family positively.

Listening Sessions

With limited rotations due to COVID-19, Lesperance said leaders are using this time to focus on soldier and family readiness, training and issues.

“We’re looking at all of the current policies and programs across the installation to identify and correct shortcomings,” he said. “We’ll provide education and influence when needed, but our goal is to provide a better environment for all of our community members, both on and off duty.”

NTC has been holding listening sessions he said will allow the NTC force to discuss and address the impact of social issues throughout the Army.

“I want to thank the Soldiers who have participated in our listening sessions both before and after the holidays,” Lesperance said. “The feedback has been invaluable for me and the Command Sergeant Major to direct specific actions to take and to improve all the programs on the installation and future training as a result.”

He hopes the feedback will help leaders better understand concerns across the force on topics of diversity, equity, and inclusion as well as dignity and respect.

Rotational Training Information

Lesperance said the NTC will continue to train and has good safety protocols to mitigate any health risks.

The January rotational training was canceled and the only participants for 21-03 were Army Special Operation Forces with a reduced size. There is no rotation this month but there will be a battalion task force of a reduced sized rotation in March for 21-05.

“The first, full-on BCT rotation that we’re going to have is rotation 21-06 and that will occur in April,” Lesperance said. “Our hope is a combination of all the protocols and safeguards we can put in place, all the pre-rotational testing, on top of potential vaccination of our Soldiers…could result in more Soldiers being vaccinated, will additionally provide further safeguards to our rotational training soldiers, as well as our own OCTs, DoD contractors and OpFor that live and work in the box during each rotation.”

Lesperance reiterated that all rotational training units take COVID-19 tests at their home station and then execute a restriction of movement after that test, prior to traveling to Fort Irwin.

“In addition, the same measures and protocols are put in place to train prior to the leave period are going to remain in place,” he said. “That includes pretty aggressive expedition RSOI in the training area instead of the RUBA, based out of LSA Santa Fe to minimize the exposure and further reduce the potential for exposure of rotational training units with the main post population.”

Lesperance said that units aggressively patrol and in addition to the controlled access points into the training area, all of the Observer Coach Trainers and Opposing Forces are tested for the rotation.

“There are checkpoints where we validate whether or not Soldiers are symptomatic or potentially were exposed as they enter the training area everyday,” he said.

Contractors and DA civilians get pre-rotational training and are screened daily.

“On top of all that, we’ve got really good measures and we’ve modified how we execute observer coaching and training and limit the OpFor to RTU contact to the degree that we feel like we can mitigate the risk and continue training the force,” Lesperance said. The systems we have in place to quickly and rapidly quarantine and then isolate and identify cases in the rotational training population have largely allowed us to mitigate that risk to a very manageable level. I feel confident that we’ll have the right system in place when we resume full rotational testing/training in the future.”

Silver Valley Schools

Silver Valley Unified School District returned to its hybrid model of learning in January and Lesperance acknowledge the hard work the teachers, staff and administrators have put into this school year.

“I’d also like to thank the Silver Valley School District,” he said. “We fully appreciate all of our teachers and administrators throughout the district that continue to be very supportive and make every effort to accommodate our families and make this a productive spring semester for our students. Thank you so much for what you continue to do for our students and your accommodations to provide a variety of options for parents to decide how their child receives education.”

This was the Commanding General’s first, live update since just before the block leave holidays.

“Now that the holidays and Opportunity Leave periods have ended, we go back to our battle rhythm and continue with these updates, once a month on RSOI 3,” Lesperance said.

The next live update with Brig. Gen. Lesperance is Feb. 17.