No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
No Result
View All Results
Reserve & National Guard
SUBSCRIBE FREE
Reserve & National Guard

Paper: Decomposing bodies, handling remains among top stressors of COVID-19 mission

But talking with family, fellow soldiers helped guardsmen manage stress

AmeriForce Exclusive
by AmeriForce Exclusive
May 15, 2023
Spc. Dylan Messina from Albany, N.Y., assigned to the New York Army National Guard, plays with Dakota, a Labrador retriever service dog provided by Puppies Behind Bars, in New York City, April 21, 2020. Photo by Senior Airman Sean Madden

Spc. Dylan Messina from Albany, N.Y., assigned to the New York Army National Guard, plays with Dakota, a Labrador retriever service dog provided by Puppies Behind Bars, in New York City, April 21, 2020. Photo by Senior Airman Sean Madden

NEW YORK – Talking with other guardsmen was the best way to relieve stress after retrieving the bodies of people who died as the COVID-19 pandemic hit New York City, according to a survey of 177 New York National Guard personnel who were part of that 2020 mission.

A paper analyzing the survey and incorporating on-the-ground observations by Army Guard behavioral health officers, was published online April 20 by the Society for Military Psychology’s professional journal “Military Psychology”.

The paper is titled: “National Guard service members decedent recovery and processing operations during the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City.”

It discusses the stresses 410 New York Army and Air Guardsmen dealt with while assisting New York City’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, called OCME for short, in retrieving the remains of 2,882 New Yorkers from March to June 2022.

The paper was written by New York Army National Guard Captain Matthew D. Baker and Major Matthew A. Southard, along with psychologists from the Army Public Health Center and Walter Reed Medical Center.

The paper examines the stresses Guardsmen on the mission faced, how they coped, and how leaders sought to help them deal with the task of recovering human remains day-in and day-out for 30 days.

The survey respondents were asked to rate ten different stressors they were exposed to, and to determine what were the most helpful ways to de-stress.

The top stresses of these missions, according to the survey, were unpleasant smells, handling decomposing bodies, seeing the deceased personnel items, and handling the remains of elderly decedents.

RELATED: Air Force Reserve medical officer speaks on COVID-19 response, what’s next

The most effective ways of coping with stress were talking with other Soldiers, talking with family, talking with friends, exercising, and listening to music.

This study—done in conjunction with the active Army—will be useful when other National Guard leaders face a mission like this, Baker and Southard said.

When the National Guard gets a mission, and does well at it, the Guard tends to get that mission again, Baker said.

In March 2020, a dramatic increase in deaths due to the COVID-19 pandemic threatened overwhelm the city’s system of collecting human remains. The New York National Guard was tasked to help.
Initially, a specially trained fatality recovery team from the 107th Attack Wing was sent. But as the workload increased, Soldiers from Army Guard units, like the 369th Sustainment Brigade were called.

Eventually, 410 Soldiers and Airmen worked the mission daily over the course of four months.

Exposure to dead bodies is one of the most traumatic events for combat Soldiers, according to research conducted during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The New York Guardsmen were facing a similar issue in peacetime, in New York City, according to the study.

The Soldiers faced grieving relatives, deteriorating remains, unventilated apartments, and the tough physical work of manhandling a body out of an apartment and down a stairwell.

Baker, a behavioral health officer in the 427th Brigade Support Battalion, and a Veterans Administration psychologist in civilian life, led the behavioral health team working with these troops.

Seven New York National Guard behavioral health providers and two enlisted specialists took part in the OCME mission. At the peak of the response five behavioral health providers were on duty.
Southard, who worked for the New York Police Department and was in the Individual Ready Reserve when the pandemic hit, returned to the Army Guard to take over the mission.

The Guard mental health workers consulted the literature on the subject and spoke with experts—including the American Psychology Association’s Mortuary Affairs Panel– to craft a program designed to reduce stressors, Southard and Baker said.

Alongside military chaplains, they made themselves available around the clock. They went to mortuaries, accompanied Soldiers on retrieval missions and gave leaders a heads up on the signals of overstress on troops.

“Battlefield circulation” was critical in identifying and addressing trauma symptomatology,” Southard said.

The mental health teams worked to get home-cooked meals for the troops, and brough in service dogs to provide some fun during down time.

They also reached out to Army Morale Welfare and Recreation, the Veterans Administration and the USO for support.

Senior leaders visited regularly, which also demonstrated the importance of the mission, Baker said.

And when Soldiers came off the mission, they went through a three-day workshop to decompress and learn how to monitor their mental health.

The teams also screened Soldiers before they went on the mission, to ensure they could handle the mental stress involved, Southard said.

But rules designed to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus made it harder for Soldiers to de-stress by hanging out together, Baker and Southard said.

The Soldiers were housed in single rooms in hotels with closed bars and restaurants. There was no place to sit and talk.

Soldiers wound up calling family and friends on their phones to relax. That was very helpful, Baker said. Sitting alone playing video games really wasn’t.

The efforts of the mental health teams addressed the immediate mental health needs of the Soldiers and Airmen, but these situations could cause stress months or years later, according to Baker and Southard.

The survey sent to the troops was designed to see how the Soldiers and Airmen were doing post-deployment and to determine what coping strategies worked best, Baker said.

This kind of research has helped change federal law and policy so that the VA can now extend mental health services to Guardsmen who might have been in state or federal guard status- like those on the OCME mission- and not on federal active duty, Baker and Southard pointed out.

The Military Psychology paper is the second scholarly work to look at the New York National Guard response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An August 2022 paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association discussed how the New York Military Forces—which include the New York Naval Militia and the New York Guard state force as well as the New York National Guard—responded to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This article was written by Eric Durr, of the New York National Guard and originally published on DVIDS.

Read comments
Tags: 427th Brigade Support BattalionairmenCOVID-19Mental HealthNew York Army National GuardNew York National guardNew York Police DepartmentNYPDSoldiers
AmeriForce Exclusive

AmeriForce Exclusive

Related Posts

Security forces awardee credits team for success

by Kari Williams
2 weeks ago
0
security forces

Capt. Paul Day, who is in security forces, is the 2022 Air Reserve Component Company Grade Officer of the Year.

Read more

AFRC brings A10s to South America for annual training exercise

by Kari Williams
2 months ago
0
resolute sentinel

Air Force Reserve Command brought A10s to South America for the first time as part of Resolute Sentinel 23.

Read more

Army Guard medics with next-generation training apply skills to save the day

by National Guard
2 months ago
0
army guard medics

Army Guard medics in South Carolina receive next-generation training, which has been applied in real-world situations to save the day.

Read more

Tennessee MPs gain hands-on customs experience with Kuwait deployment

by Christopher Adams
2 months ago
0
customs

More than 150 Tennessee soldiers – several with civilian law enforcement experience – recently deployed to provide customs support overseas.

Read more

Cyber warfare prompts deployment for Maine guardsmen

by Kari Williams
2 months ago
0
cyber warfare

Nine soldiers from the 146th Cyber Warfare Company will mobilize this month for a one-year deployment to support Army Cyber...

Read more

Operation Allies Welcome ‘governor’ witnesses transformation of refugees, service members

by Will Martin
3 months ago
0
Operation Allies Welcome

Col. Bernadette Maldonado was among those called for Operation Allies Welcome after the U.S. departure from Afghanistan in 2021.

Read more

Ads

Let's get social

The RNG Drill

News delivered directly to your inbox

Let's connect!

ABOUT US

  • OUR STORY
  • OUR TEAM
  • OUR WRITERS

MAGAZINE

  • GET PRINT
  • GET DIGITAL
  • GET THE NEWSLETTER

ADVERTISE

  • GET OUR MEDIA KIT
  • PUBLISHER’S STATEMENT

SUBMISSIONS

  • SUBMIT YOUR STORY

Never miss out on the latest stories.

© 2021 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Privacy Policy | Terms | Site by Swiss Commerce

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

Thank you for your interest in The Reserve & National Guard Magazine!

No Result
View All Results
  • NEWS
  • YOUR CAREER
    • UNIT TRAINING
    • DEPLOYMENT
    • PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
    • RECRUITING & RETENTION
    • ENTREPRENEUR
    • TRANSITION
  • EDUCATION
  • MILITARY LIFE
    • MILITARY SPOUSES
    • MILITARY KIDS
    • PARENTING
  • OFF DUTY
    • ENTERTAINMENT
    • TRAVEL
  • HEALTH
    • FITNESS
    • MEDICINE
    • MENTAL HEALTH
  • SPORTS
  • OPINION
  • HISTORY
  • MONEY
    • PERSONAL FINANCE
    • BENEFITS
  • GET THE MAGAZINE
    • PRINT MAGAZINES
    • DIGITAL MAGAZINES
    • GET THE NEWSLETTER
  • ABOUT US
    • MEET OUR TEAM
    • OUR AUTHORS
    • ADVERTISE WITH US
    • SUBMIT YOUR STORY
    • PITCH US
    • CONTACT

© 2022 Reserve & National Guard by AmeriForce. Site by SCBW