Meet the man leading the Tennessee National Guard's expanded efforts to find COVID-19

Asked where he tells people he grew up, Cale Queen laughs: “I don’t.”

From South Carolina to Illinois to Australia to New Hampshire to North Dakota and North Carolina, through moves and new homes and new schools, the son of a U.S. Air Force sergeant long thought he’d never follow his father into the military.

But then he did, joining the U.S. Army at age 18.

His high school’s ROTC program had an instructor who’d been a special-forces medic, “and I became enamored with the idea of being a medic myself.”

Now 45 and having lived in one place — Clarksville — for almost the past two decades, Queen is still in the military. He's a major in the Tennessee National Guard, helping orchestrate what has been an historic collaboration of military and medical professionals to locate and limit COVID-19’s spread.

As task force commander, Queen has been a commanding officer for the state’s National Guard mission that began in late March, when roughly 250 part-time, volunteer soldiers and airmen were mobilized to help the Department of Health create drive-thru testing sites in 35 rural Tennessee counties.

“It’s gone extremely well,” Queen said. “We have managed to date to test over 82,000 Tennesseans who’ve wanted to get a COVID test.”

COVID-19 tests, in general, have been plentiful in Tennessee and nearly anyone who wants a test can get one. In mid-April, Gov. Bill Lee announced that any state resident who wanted to be checked for the coronavirus was eligible for a free test at drive-thru centers in many rural counties. One week later, Nashville officials expanded testing to asymptomatic residents at city-run testing sites. In general, any Tennessee resident who wants a test should now be able to get one. The impact of Queen’s soldiers has been apparent — and has continued to expand.

The mission has started to target more testing for more vulnerable areas like nursing homes and urban populations in Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga.

“A lot of our soldiers are very invested in this mission,” Queen said. “They are very proud of the work that they’re doing, and we’re grateful for our civilian employers for allowing our absence for us to make this mission happen.”

Queen’s background in the Guard includes 18 years and two tours in Iraq. This round, obviously, has been a bit closer to home. His time with this mission will end at roughly the end of June, he said, at which time he’ll return to his civilian, health care administration role as an executive director for MaxWell Clinic.

A husband and father of 20-year-old twin daughters (juniors at Lipscomb) and a 13-year-old son, Queen has been able to return home a little bit. But since the mission began in late March, he has been primarily stationed at the National Guard base in Smyrna.

“While it can be a very scary and challenging time, this is part of what we train for,” he said. “This is very much in line with missions that we anticipate and think about and plan for. How can we come in and how can we help our fellow citizens and the communities that we live in? That’s something that the National Guard can do rapidly and do well.”

Reach Gentry Estes at gestes@tennessean.com and on Twitter @Gentry_Estes.