Employee-Owner Spotlight: Get to Know Jonathan Craig
February 01, 2022
Activation with the National Guard’s COVID-19 Response
Jonathan Craig (pictured front left).
Jonathan Craig, Staff Professional
Jonathan Craig is a Staff Professional in our Development Business Unit based in Knoxville, TN. He joined S&ME in May 2019 and was deployed – also referred to as activated – in March 2020 with the National Guard and its COVID-19 pandemic response in middle Tennessee. In 2022, we are glad to have Jonathan and his expertise back with S&ME and are thankful for his contributions to those impacted by COVID-19 in the Middle Tennessee community.
When he was activated, Jonathan served on Joint Task Force Medical. The original two weeks time span turned into two years as COVID-19 cases increased throughout the State. “This was the longest Stateside National Guard activation,” Jonathan tells us.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worn by COVID-19 test administrators.
In those two years, Jonathan spent the time with the State’s National Guard Task Force. As the Task Force grew, he moved into a role as the Middle Tennessee Regional Officer-in-charge (OIC), managing 200 people. The group set up emergency COVID-19 sites to administer testing and vaccines and later staffed hospitals that were at capacity. The Task Force worked across all of Tennesse from the Tri-Cities to Knoxville to Memphis.“Our first mission was in a nursing home. The staff stopped showing up, so we stepped in to help”, Jonathan recounts.
COVID-19 test and vaccination sites.
We asked what the process looked like:
Jonathan (pictured far right) and National Guard Task Force members.
“In the beginning, we treated everything as biohazard waste. We wore full PPE suits, with many steps involved. That process changed a lot in the end as time went on, and we learned more about how COVID-19 spreads.”
“This was a once and a lifetime experience where I learned a lot. I wouldn’t go back and change anything about the time I spent.”
Jonathan remains part-time in the National Guard, serving one weekend a month and spending two to four weeks out of the year for annual training.
Development Business Unit Director, Lynne Musick, tells us, “We are thrilled to have Jonathan back in Knoxville. We’re proud of his work and the skills he has earned over the past two years and for serving our Middle Tennessee community.”
S&ME Area Manager, Brad Salsbury, and Jonathan Craig accept the award.
S&ME was honored to receive an award from the Office of the Secretary of Defense for our “Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve” for “Contributing to National Security and Protecting Liberty and Freedom by supporting employee participation in America’s National Guard and Reserve Force.”
We thank Jonathan for his service to our country and welcome him back to S&ME!