Thank you for your service, Garrett!
Garrett Thompson, an intern architect in the FGM Architects Austin office is also a paratrooper in the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team with the Texas Army National Guard. As part of his military service, he is actively deployed on a mission in West Texas to provide COVID-19 testing.
The mission started in “small-town-west-Texas”, setting up mobile test sites for COVID-19. During the first month they were in a different town each day. They are able to test 170-200 people daily. Working in small teams they have been able to cover all of west Texas in a matter of weeks. Now the mission is focused on testing in more densely populated cities like El Paso, Amarillo, Lubbock and Midland/Odessa. The mission will be stationary for another week or so in the El Paso region before moving to Amarillo to support the other teams handling the outbreak there. Garrett reports:
“Life isn’t too bad. We work 6 days on and one day off rotations. We brought a lot of gym equipment and have been working out every day at 5am before we leave in the morning to set up the test site. It’s been a good opportunity for our guys to work together more than the once a month schedule we are used to throughout the year.”
