OHIO—When the Ohio Army National Guard was delivering critical support for the COVID-19 pandemic response last spring, the Wayne National Forest provided them a place to call home in southeast Ohio.

In April 2020, Wayne Forest Supervisor Carrie Gilbert allowed use of the forest’s headquarters building, off Highway 33 near Nelsonville, to host the 10-member Ohio Army National Guard team during their pandemic response efforts. This year, on Thursday, Jan. 21, Gilbert was honored for her support with the Patriot Award from the Ohio National Guard – Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

Gilbert was surprised and honored to receive the award, which is given to supervisors in recognition for support of service members. “I’m happy we were able to assist the National Guard with their pandemic response operation,” said Gilbert. “At the Wayne National Forest, we always try to be good neighbors and look for ways to help our communities.”

The Wayne’s headquarters building served as a central location to host the Ohio Army National Guard team during their COVID-19 response operation across the 17 counties of southeast Ohio. It was the only location in all of Ohio used for this purpose that was not a military facility.
Nick Mossbarger, a Wayne National Forest employee who also serves with the Ohio Army National Guard, nominated Gilbert for the award. Mossbarger led a joint engineer assessment team to evaluate the suitability of sites to serve as potential alternate care facilities during pandemic response efforts. When he is not called to serve in the National Guard, Mossbarger works as a civil engineer technician on the forest and will soon start as the recreation team leader on the Ironton District.

Gilbert was presented the Patriot Award by Eboni Williams-Sankoe, ESGR program support specialist, who was joined by Eddie Reed, vice chair of Ohio ESGR, and Farha Fazel, public affairs director of Ohio ESGR.