The Military Law Task Force of the National Lawyers’s Guild has issued the following statement regarding the U.S. government’s response to COVID-19 pandemic.
The NLG Military Law Task Force is outraged that the Commander in Chief apparently ignored direct warnings from the National Center for Medical Intelligence and other agencies of an impending pandemic. As a result, servicemembers around the world are in real danger. The Department of Defense was similarly slow in its response. The DoD has made conflicting statements and issued conflicting policies concerning the virus as have the individual services. Those statements that suggest that military readiness is more important than protecting its people are offensive. The recent events concerning the U.S.S. Roosevelt with nearly 600 infected and one dead demonstrate that the military needs to vastly improve its response to this crisis and protect its enlisted sailors, soldiers and marines. The MLTF stands ready to support servicemembers who are affected by DoD’s policies on COVID-19. Servicemembers and their families who are denied appropriate medical care or personal protective equipment are encouraged to contact the MLTF at nlg.mltf@gmail.com or (619) 463-2369.
MLTF will be publishing a memo on the U.S. Military’s COVID-19 policies, which can be read/downloaded by the public without charge. For future updates or new MLTF material on this matter, check this site’s COVID-19 tag page.
The National Lawyers Guild, MLTF’s sponsoring body, also put out a statement on COVID-19.
