East Lyme — Army National Guard candidates were attending classroom sessions on preventive medicine countermeasures on Wednesday, during phase one of Officer Candidate School and training at the Connecticut National Guard's Stones Ranch Military Reservation.

Nearly 90 officer candidates from more than nine states in the Northeast are undergoing the two-week training designed to assess candidates' ability to become commissioned officers. All candidates were tested for COVID-19 before traveling to attend the training.

"The military has to keep training, soldiers are always on the front line," said Maj. Steven Roy with the New Jersey Army National Guard. "The enemy doesn't stop because of COVID, so neither can our training."