An employee of the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM) in Pensacola, Florida, discovered a stockpile of N-95 masks in the maintenance supply room and donated them to Naval Air Station (NAS) Pensacola firefighters last week.

While clearing out the maintenance supply room at NEXCOM’s Southeast Distribution Center (SEDC) in Pensacola, Dayton Briggs, maintenance manager for SEDC, discovered 170 N-95 masks. He brought this discovery to the attention of Donna McCallion, general manager of SEDC.

McCallion then worked with James Mulligan, SEDC loss prevention/safety manager, who contacted NAS Pensacola leadership to notify them of the discovery. Mulligan offered to donate all the N-95 masks to another command on NAS Pensacola that may have more need. Executive Officer, NAS Pensacola, Commander Michael Harbison, connected Mulligan with NAS Pensacola, Fire Chief Daniel Chiappetta. On Apr. 2, Chiappetta picked up all 170 N-95 masks. On Apr. 3, 70 more N-95 masks were located by the SEDC and were also transferred to the NAS Pensacola Fire Department.

“I knew that our first responders were in need of N-95 masks, so I scoured our maintenance supply room and discovered a small stockpile of N-95 masks that could be donated to the first responders on base,” Briggs said. “I’m thankful these masks will be put to good use by the NAS Pensacola Fire Department. I’m honored to work for a command that constantly goes that extra nautical mile to support our military.”

N-95 masks are not required for wear at NEXCOM’s SEDC facility and will be replaced by high quality surgical-type masks that are available in the commercial supply system. Based on Apr. 5 DoD directive, all individuals on DoD property, installations and any facility are required to wear cloth face coverings when they cannot maintain six feet of social distance in public areas or work centers. Therefore, NEXCOM personnel are directed to wear personally-owned personal protective equipment, masks and gloves, scarves or bandannas while in the workplace when they cannot maintain six feet of social distance.

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