O.C.-based National Guard soldiers assist at Cal State L.A. vaccine site

When the California National Guard was tasked with staffing a large-scale COVID-19 vaccine site at Cal State Los Angeles in February, the Los Alamitos-based 40th Infantry Division was among the units that answered the call.

Capt. Jaime Chiem, 37, of Cypress is among the soldiers who have been assigned with managing thousands of vaccine recipients who either drive through or walk into the vaccine site at a university parking lot. Chiem’s job is to tweak the operation so visitors have to spend as little time on campus as possible.

The vaccine recipients he meets are usually joining the walk-in line.

“It seems like there’s a weight lifted off their shoulders and there’s a possibility of them getting back to something of what was before the pandemic,” Chiem said. “They really just want to see their family.”

Like most soldiers and airmen serving in the California National Guard, Chiem and many other service members working at Cal State Los Angeles are on leave from their full-time jobs to help their state. When he’s not wearing fatigues, Chiem works as a public interest attorney advocating for indigent parents at risk of losing their children to the foster care system.

Other attorneys have stepped in to help cover his cases during the mission, which is currently set to last until the end of April but will likely be extended.

“It’s just one of those times that’s a unique opportunity that would never have presented itself [outside of the pandemic]; you can make circumstances a little bit better for people,” Chiem said.

In 2017, Chiem deployed with elements of the 40th Infantry Division to Kandahar Air Force Base in Afghanistan for a little less than a year. He was also activated with an air defense unit that detected low-flying aircraft used by drug traffickers on the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Cal State Los Angeles site is jointly run by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the governor’s Office of Emergency Services.

In February, more than 200 active duty soldiers, mostly from Fort Carson, Colo., including medics, physician assistants, nurses, doctors, and nonmedical support staff arrived in Southern California, said Capt. Dan Parker, a spokesperson for 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. The contingent includes many active duty medics who are injecting vaccine doses into people’s arms.

Many Californians have seen the National Guard responses to natural disasters and civil unrest in recent years but the U.S. Army’s deployment of active-duty solders to Southern California is an unusual step, said Shirley Feldmann-Jensen, program coordinator and lecturer for the Emergency Services Administration Master’s Program at Cal State Long Beach.

“So much on the system relies on volunteer help and when even the volunteers are tapped they have to ask for additional resources,” Feldmann-Jensen said. “Part of the issue is that California has a very large population to immunize.”

She also noted that public health agencies have been woefully underfunded since the Great Recession in 2008.

Sgt. Hannah Fors, 28, of Northridge is attached to the Los Alamitos-based Intelligence and Sustainment Company with the 40th Infantry Division. When the vaccine site first opened, Fors sometimes worked 12-hour days helping guide motorists through lanes.

“Some say, ‘it’s crazy’ and are asking ‘why is the National Guard here?’ Once they start talking with us they see we’re just people,” she said.

Although Fors is trained as a chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear specialist, she’s studying to become a marine biologist. In her 10 years of service, she’s been activated for two other missions. Fors deployed to assist law enforcement with traffic control and security presence during the 2017 wildfires in Northern California. Last summer, Fors was deployed to the Los Angeles Convention Center to prepare for civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd.

She prefers helping with humanitarian missions like the one that’s ongoing at Cal State Los Angeles.

“Even on the busiest days, 97% of the people who come through they say this is so organized,” Fors said. “Most of the time they’re happy to see us and happy to get their vaccine.”

Senior citizens were majority of the vaccine recipients in the early days of the Cal State LA site but people of all ages with underlying conditions are now getting in line, Fors said.

Pfc. Robert Gavia, 25, traveled from his hometown of Oxnard to assist with traffic control at Cal State Los Angeles vaccine site. He’s taking time off from his job as a banking associate with a JPMorgan Chase retail branch.

Gavia and other soldiers who cannot reasonably commute home are provided temporary housing.

A desire to help his community, mainly instilled by his Catholic education, motivated Gavia to enlist a year and a half ago. He’s also following the military service of his grandfather and great grandfather. Gavia has already seen the impact on vaccine recipients.

“I have seen people crying tears of joy,” Gavia said. “They say, ‘we appreciate everything you’re doing.’”

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