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New Mexico Air Guard delivers PPE across state

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ian Beckley
  • 150th Special Operations Wing

GRANTS, N.M. – New Mexico Air National Guard Staff Sgt. Israel Martinez and Senior Airman Jason Quintana recently delivered personal protective equipment (PPE) to Cibola County.

As part of the statewide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Martinez and Quintana drove more than 60 miles from Albuquerque to Grants to deliver the much-needed PPE to the community. This equipment ranges from protective gloves to facemasks designed to lessen community spread of the virus.

This was not the first time Martinez and Quintana provided such support, nor is Grants the only community the two have visited.

“We have been all over the state, from Alamogordo to Taos and Raton,” said Quintana.

“We also were working at the test site in Española to make sure people were healthy. That assignment felt best because we got to directly help people.”

After government authorities ordered passenger liners to anchor off the coasts of Florida and California, Quintana helped passengers from New Mexico return home with little to no contact with others. This also served to deter community spread.

While New Mexico residents adhere to stay-at-home and social distancing policies, Martinez and Quintana venture out to ensure local communities have as many resources as possible to keep their members healthy and safe.

The New Mexico Air National Guard, along with the New Mexico Army National Guard and the New Mexico State Defense Force, operates as part of a joint task force supporting municipal, county, state and federal agencies responding to the pandemic.

Soldiers and Airmen are performing missions around the clock and around the state to protect New Mexicans.