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Author: TriSec    Date: 04/21/2020 11:41:05

Good Morning. With just a little thought, you could probably rattle off the recruiting slogans for the major branches of the service. "Aim High" "Forged by the Sea" "Army Strong" "The Few, The proud..."


I'd like to add one more to that list. "Never miss the opportunity". At least the campaign is appropriately named.


The U.S. Army recently released a new advertising video targeting young people living in a society crippled by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The short video, titled "Unbelievable," is the latest addition to the "What's Your Warrior" ad campaign, which is designed to show members of Generation Z how their service is needed.

The video first aired Friday on YouTube and is making its way around social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It features stark images that hint at post-apocalyptic life due to the COVID-19 pandemic and shows soldiers with medical and research specialties responding to the crisis.

The Army launched the "What's Your Warrior" campaign Nov. 11, focused on trying to get young people to think about what type of warrior is inside them.

"We don't want to sound opportunistic at all but, at the same time, we are very involved in the fight. The Army has a role in this," said Laura DeFrancisco, spokeswoman for the Army Enterprise Marketing Office.

The video flashes the message, "When the unbelievable happens ... the unbelievable rise to meet it."

"There is the one shot of the soldier looking at a microscope; that is real world," DeFrancisco said. "But just in general being a part of an organization that is involved in something that supports your community right here at home, which is an unusual role, especially for the active Army."


Well, good luck with that. If we can't get people to stay inside and wear a mask, I'm sure they'll be flocking to their local recruiting stations instead.

https://static.life.com/wp-content/uploads/migrated/2014/12/141205-pearl-harbor-05.jpg


Moving on, the Army is now starting to think that they've built too many field hospitals instead of not enough. Anecdotally, at least, I may be inclined to agree. The facility in Boston is being under-utilized, but it's not from lack of trying.


The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has raced to convert buildings and construct field hospitals at a clip that could result in the number of hospital beds exceeding current needs in the fight against the novel coronavirus, but that's OK, Army Lt. Gen. Todd Semonite said Friday.

"If you have hospital beds that never get used, I don't think that's a problem, because you had the ability to take care of the people from your city," Semonite, commander of USACE, said at a Pentagon news conference Friday. "It's a relatively small cost to have the capability to keep people alive. I can't think of a more noble calling for an engineer."

Since taking on the task more than 35 days ago, the Corps and local contractors, working off a standard design for both COVID-19 and non-COVID patients, have put up 28 facilities nationwide with a total capacity of 15,700 beds. Plans are in the works for at least seven more facilities, according to USACE figures.

"We've also seen where the curve has flattened in certain areas," meaning that the number of new coronavirus cases has dropped off, Semonite said.

As a result, "where maybe a city thought they were going to have a significant bed shortage -- now either they don't see as many new cases or they see they have more time and therefore their available hospitals are able to handle that load," he said.

One area where the demand for new beds has fallen off is Seattle. The Corps had rushed to convert the CenturyLink pro football stadium into a makeshift hospital, but Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee announced last week that the facility was no longer needed -- before any of the beds were actually used.

The Corps has since packed up the beds and equipment and put them on standby for possible use elsewhere.


Here in Boston, the field hospital at the Convention Center is nowhere near capacity. That may be due to the way it's being used. Boston's "Healthcare for the Homeless" has been roving the streets and checking in on folks. If they agree to a test, and if they come up positive, they are offered, but not compelled to take, a ride to the field unit. Old Town Trolley Tours has been one of those prime movers, and over the last week we have transported about a dozen people. As always, your mileage may vary.

And finally - let's take a look at our own house today. Not related to anything military, but more trying to make use of the idle time. Take a look on the left side of this page. Down near the bottom there's "Blog Roll" and the little-used "Other Links".

I think most of these have been unchanged since the Bush Administration.

I'd gladly take the lead in freshening this up a bit, but I don't want to be the final arbiter on any of these sites. So please take a look. Let me know what you think we should keep, what can go (or what is no longer active), and give me some new ideas.


 
 

7 comments (Latest Comment: 04/21/2020 18:33:17 by TriSec)
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