COVID-19 Travel Trilogy: Intro
Welcome to our blog series: COVID-19 Travel Trilogy. In this series, ONEIL trainer, Erik Arnold, chronicles his travels to Europe during COVID times to train warfighters on behalf of a long-time ONEIL client during the first quarter of 2021.
As background, ONEIL, in support of a top Aerospace and Defense contractor, provides operations and maintenance training for a global Satellite Communications (SATCOM) system used by multiple services within the U.S. Department of Defense. ONEIL has partnered with the contractor in this blog series to provide training and technical manual development services, for this system and its predecessor, for more than 20 years. Between the two systems, ONEIL has provided more than 14,000 hours of on-site training to more than 1,200 students at various locations in more than a dozen countries and territories.
ONEIL routinely sends teams around the world to train on-site warfighters in how to use and maintain specialized equipment, but when COVID-19 rocked the world, it also rocked company processes. With public health top of mind and new international guidance about how to prevent the spread of a global pandemic, ONEIL now incorporates extensive quarantine and testing protocols to deliver the same top-quality products and services clients expect.
In “the new normal,” depending on the class location, instructors must be tested for COVID-19 prior to travel and must quarantine upon arrival to another country. They are tested a second time prior to release from quarantine and then tested a third time before returning to the U.S. Upon their stateside return, they must quarantine again. There’s also a possibility of an in-country quarantine if an active case is discovered among trainees. Because of these requirements, course scheduling and logistics must be closely coordinated and monitored to ensure classes occur without issue.
ONEIL desires to make things easier for clients (even when it means more complexity for us), because the company truly believes client relationships matter. Deep commitment to clients fosters trust, and that sets ONEIL apart – even in a global pandemic. Throughout the next few weeks, expect to read a first-hand account from ONEIL employee Erik Arnold about what unparalleled commitment looks like during an international work trip to Germany.