![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/SSG-Santiago-2.jpg.jpg\")
\u201cI actually administered both doses to my grandmother,\u201d said Rollag, who is a combat medic assigned to Nebraska\u2019s 2nd Battalion, 134th Infantry Regiment. He is currently vaccinating the public at a site in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska. \u201cIt\u2019s also been really nice seeing a bunch of other people that I know \u2014 I saw my high school counselor and got to give him his vaccinations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rollag also was mobilized in spring 2020 to assist Nebraska National Guard\u2019s COVID testing teams. He reflected on how the mission has evolved over time. \u201cInitially when I was doing testing, every now and again someone would ask, \u2018When\u2019s the vaccine coming?\u2019 And it\u2019s nice to at least feel like things are finally starting to have a change towards normal again…it\u2019s a really nice relief.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked to describe her feelings about being on the front lines of ending the pandemic, Santiago said it feels \u201cwonderful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have answers to [the community\u2019s] questions. We have the ability to give them what they need to protect them, keep them safe, keep their family safe. It\u2019s a hope for us to again get back to our normal life and hold each other again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was mobilized first to support COVID last February,\u201d said Air Force Col. Russell Kohl, commander of the Missouri Air National Guard\u2019s 131st Medical Group. \u201cI\u2019ve got to echo…[Santiago and Rollag] on the situation that we were in back then versus now. And that sense of hopefulness for the future, that sense of recognizing that you have more tools in your tool bag that you can use for the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kohl also emphasized that the fight against the pandemic isn\u2019t over yet. \u201cThere are lots of different tools that go into place in order to help us get through the COVID pandemic. Vaccinations are an incredibly important part of that. But that\u2019s not the only tool…I think it\u2019s important for folks [to follow CDC guidelines], regardless necessarily of what your local policies are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The National Guard has administered more than 6 million doses since December.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":38980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":67,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[67,100,22,23,92,93,12,25,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3376],"class_list":["post-18382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-coronavirus","category-daily-news-roundup","category-disaster","category-home","category-left-column","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"NQGYIUTMUZGQXL3DSIT4W3JNNE","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/coronavirus\/2021\/04\/08\/these-guard-troops-on-covid-duty-vaccinated-their-grandmothers\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n