Assemblyman activated for pandemic work
Imagine you’re about to have dinner, or about to go to sleep, and a truck pulls up with an immediate need to load or unload medical supplies. It sounds far fetched, but not if you’re at Stewart Air Force Base. Most of the 1669th Transportation Company is stationed there and the members are always on call.
The company, which is part of the New York Army National Guard, was activated at the beginning of the month. It will remain on duty for at least 30 days or until its services are no longer needed.
The company has rented a dozen civilian box trucks to supplement its fleet of military trucks.
Their most frequent destination is the Jacob Javits Center in New York. Corporal Colin Schmitt has made that trip several times. In civilian life, he’s the representative for the 99th Assembly District.
“You have to be prepared to do a little bit of everything,” the corporal told us over the telephone on April 16. “And you try to stay as upbeat as possible.”
On those trips to New York City, he’s often surprised by the amount of traffic. He wonders if all those drivers have essential jobs, and he believes that if we follow the guidelines we’ll get through this much faster.
Corporal Schmitt lives in New Windsor. He can go home if the unit doesn’t have a mission. And if his dining time isn’t interrupted, he’s likely to enjoy a meal that’s been catered by Matson’s Deli and Café — a place he often visits in civilian life. It’s at the corner of Union Avenue and Temple Hill Road.
We asked about his other job; the one that keeps him in Albany for a good portion of the year.
“The office staff is fully functional,” he told us. “Nothing has changed except that they’re working remotely because of the virus.” The corporal keeps in touch with his employees as often as he can, and he’s recruited a new member of the team. His wife Nikki (normally a real estate agent) has been impacted by the pause like everyone else. She’s used her free time to distribute personal protection equipment (PPE) to agencies throughout the assembly district.
Knowing that the assemblyman was busy, we didn’t keep him on the phone. But we did ask if he wanted to add anything to our conversation.
“Yes,” he replied. “I’d like to give a shout out to Mrs. Schmitt and the rest of the staff.”
