Fort Jackson cancels family day, limits graduation ceremonies for foreseeable future
Modifications to normal operations are being made at Fort Jackson in response to the coronavirus threat.
Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) —Modifications to normal operations are being made at Fort Jackson in response to the coronavirus threat.
Brig. Gen. Milford Beagle, Jr. said the decision to cancel family day and limit soldier graduations is in an effort to protect the community.
“We consider ourselves, not only a part of the community but we live in the community. So anything that impacts Fort Jackson is going to impact the local community,” said Gen. Beagle.
They’ve made these types of modifications before, like during hurricane season, but now they’re adjusting as the threat of COVID-19 continues.
“They get the hour of the ceremony, where they physically watch the graduation ceremony, and then they’ll get about an hour of contact time and then we’re going to send all of those families and friends off the installation through one designated location,” said Gen. Beagle. “We’ll maintain the family day cancellations going forward, and that will change only as the conditions change. We will keep the modified graduations until the conditions dictate. And if the conditions continue to get worse, then we will go to a full cancellation of both.”
These events occur every Wednesday and Thursday. For soldiers going through basic, it’s the first time they get to see their family since they left home.
“They all are a bit sad, because they don’t get to see the families and that’s kind of part of this final week is they look forward to seeing their families and letting them see the transformation that they’ve gone through,” said Gen. Beagle.
Protecting the community and soldiers is a top priority.
“We wanted to minimize the exposures that our soldiers and our community has with those families that are coming from multiple states,” said Gen. Beagle.
Many families travel from out of state, and Gen. Beagle said he appreciates their understanding on what the Army must do in a situation they can’t control.
“Our public will never ask us if we were ready, they would expect it. We’re always ready. We’re always going to train to be ready for our nation, and we have to take the proper precautions to protect ourselves and to protect those that are around us,” he said.
He added that going forward, if the conditions of the coronavirus worsen they will move on to a full closure of Fort Jackson. Only the workforce and mission-essential personnel would be allowed in. Both family days and graduation ceremonies would be cancelled.
