Schriever stays operational despite COVID-19

News from the U.S. Air Force, 50th Space Wing

Despite the worldwide COVID-19 response, the 50th Space Wing at Schriever Air Force Base continues to execute its critical operations, while ensuring the proper steps are taken to maintain airmen’s health and well-being.

As of March 20, there are no confirmed cases of COVID-19 at the base. The 50th Space Wing commander, Col. James E. Smith, has enacted multiple safety measures — social distancing, minimum manning and temperature checks at restricted area portals — to protect Airmen and the base’s critical operations.

No pandemic in space

Airman 1st Class Brice Brewington, 4th Space Operations Squadron, is an extremely high-frequency satellite systems operator.

“It’s critical we continue the mission during trying times,” Brewington said. “Although there is a pandemic here on Earth, there’s no pandemic in space and our adversaries aren’t going to stop trying to gain superiority from us any time soon. We need to stay mission-ready rain, sleet, snow, hail and even during a pandemic to complete our mission at the most elite level possible.”

To minimize transmission, 4th SOPS Airmen use cleaning wipes and sanitation spray to clean their workstations. Additionally, accountability is taken daily to make certain the squadron’s airmen are feeling healthy and well.

“I know the service I help provide is critical for [service members] down range,” Brewington said. “I take my job very seriously. Lives depend on it, and we can’t let a pandemic slow down our operations.”

2 SOPS at their stations

The 2nd Space Operations Squadron is one of the United States Space Force’s premier units. 2 SOPS operates the GPS mission, providing a global utility to Earth’s population for free.

“No matter what, we need to ensure this mission continues so the American people and the world know they can depend on us to be the gold standard in precision, navigation and timing,” said Lt. Col Stephen Toth, 2nd SOPS commander.

Some of the services that use GPS to operate are ambulances, hospitals, police departments and fire departments.

“It would make a global pandemic that much worse if we were to go down,” Toth said. “It could prevent a lot of the day-to-day things we rely on from happening, it could be catastrophic.”

According to a study conducted by U.S. Department of Transportation on the economic impact of GPS, a 30 day outage could range from a 2.7 to 5.5 billion dollar economic loss. Additionally, GPS supports 14 of 16 essential industries in the U.S.

“We’ll remain reliable no matter what the condition the world is in,” Toth said. “Whether it be a pandemic, hurricane, tornado or any other type of crisis, we have plans and training for whatever threat we may face so the mission doesn’t stop.”

Unlike other jobs across the Department of Defense, those directly conducting operations can’t telework. They need to be in a sensitive compartmented information facility or restricted area in a secured area to perform the mission. Airmen can access specific terminals and networks only accessible on the operations floor.

“The American people can count on space and they can count on our military to continue to provide the level of capability that’s expected no matter what’s going on in the world,” Toth said. “In times of crisis, people shouldn’t have to question whether we’ll be here or not, because we will and the mission won’t stop.”

Senior Master Sgt. Michael Welch, 50th Contracting Squadron superintendent, distributes sanitizer to an Airman at the 50th Logistics Readiness Flight warehouse at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, April 2, 2020. The 50th CONS secured sanitizing supplies to units across the base to prevent Airmen from contracting COVID-19. (Photo: U.S. Air Force / Airman 1st Class Jonathan Whitely)

Rapid response and decontamination

The 50th Space Wing stood up the Rapid Response Decontamination Detail in response to COVID-19 and hosted a training session March 26 in the wing headquarters building. The training highlighted the importance of having a crew on standby to keep the mission essential operations centers clean and functioning.

“It’s a 24/7 team trained and equipped for rapid response to support operations inside the restricted area,” said Capt. James Selix, 3rd Space Experimentation Squadron weapons officer and R2D2 officer in charge.
For operations crews to request R2D2 services, a squadron commander must call the team and they have 15-30 minutes to respond and initiate the cleaning operation.

“We’re expecting airmen do the preventative portion of their cleaning,” Selix said. “We’re not there to do it for them. We are activated when there are folks showing symptoms of COVID-19 or have positive tests.”
The crew has a priority system should they need to deconflict requests.

“We want to be rapid to support operations,” Selix said. “[Airmen] are continuing their missions 24/7 and if their crews are doing deep cleanings, that’s pulling them away from doing supports, contacting satellites or protecting the restricted area.”

The detail will be operating in eight-hour shifts to ensure their 24/7 availability. They will be on standby to provide terminal cleanings and supplies to squadrons as needed.

“This is a new enemy,” Selix said. “This is a new fight for all of us. We’re developing teams that make sense in the fight against COVID-19, it takes all of us building the road as we walk it.”

The crew has hydrogen-peroxide, disinfectant wipes, protective gear and cleaning sprays and solutions to ensure the operation floors are sanitized and operational.