45-year-old reservist becomes military’s 10th COVID-19 death

A 45-year-old Army reservist from Florida has died from COVID-19, an Army Reserve spokesman said Monday, marking the military’s 10th death from the disease.

Lt. Col. Simon Flake identified the deceased service member as Sgt. 1st Class Calvin Ogletree III from Lakeland, Fla.

His death was first noted in Monday’s update of the online chart the Pentagon maintains of coronavirus cases connected to the department.

He died Thursday at Florida’s Bartow Regional Medical Center, Flake said in a statement.

Ogletree was an active-duty soldier from 1994 to 1997, working as a mechanic. During that time, he served in Germany, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina. In 1997, he transferred to the Army Reserve as a motor transport operator.

In 2003, Ogletree completed a combat tour in Iraq. His last assignment was as a senior writer instructor for the 8th Battalion-108th Regiment (Transportation) in Jacksonville, Fla., according to Flake.

Ogletree is the sixth reservist to die from COVID-19.

Three National Guardsmen have also died, most recently a Texas Air National Guardsman earlier this month.

One active-duty service member has died from the coronavirus: Navy Chief Petty Officer Charles Robert Thacker Jr., a 41-year-old aviation ordnanceman. He died in April after being one of more than 1,000 sailors from the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier who contracted the virus.

The Pentagon has reported 99,839 cases of COVID-19 connected to the Defense Department, according to Monday’s figures. That includes 67,443 cases among service members, 43,760 of whom have recovered and 785 of whom have been hospitalized over the course of the pandemic.

There have also been 16,149 cases among civilians, 10,026 cases among dependents and 6,221 cases among contractors. There have been 69 civilian deaths, eight dependent deaths and 26 contractor deaths, according to Monday’s chart.