Watch live: Former Black Hawk pilot reveals audacious plan to defeat Covid spread

As CEO of Nine Line Apparel, CPT (ret)Tyler Merritt never thought he’d have to call on his skills as a warfighter once he’d left the Army.

But these aren’t normal times.

Now Tyler and the 200 employees of Nine Line aren’t just fighting for market share; they’re fighting for the very health of the nation against the spread of the coronavirus.

Nine Line is prepared to completely switch its manufacturing operations to produce effective face masks for health care professionals and first responders on the frontline battle against the disease.

“I’m an engineer. I’m also a former Army officer and a member of the special operations community,” Merritt says, describing the mix of skills he’s calling upon to quickly devise creative solutions for production, along with logistics and deployment.

But it is once again a battle of life and death.

“I’m also the son of a person who will die if he contracts this. I’m also the son of a nurse [and] the father of children who could potentially die,” Merritt explains. “So this is not about money. This is about coming together.”

You can watch Tyler Merritt live on Thursday night, April 9, at 7 p.m. Central Time, when he talks with Tim Schmidt, President and Founder of the US Concealed Carry Association (USCCA) about Nine Line’s plans and how both are joining forces to combat the coronavirus.

With a nationwide shortage of face masks for health care professionals and first responders, the company has begun production and testing of protective face masks made of apparel fabric, in partnership with one of its fabric suppliers, Bella + Canvas.

When worn, this one-size-fits-all mask helps contain respiratory droplets. Already being distributed to the first responder community, Nine Line and its partners have vowed to now provide these at cost to their consumers. By pivoting operations to these masks, Nine Line hopes to continue the embodiment of its “brother’s keeper” mentality. As the company name represents, Nine Line has once again been called to action, and will continue to work with its partners to provide affordable, innovative solutions during this time of need. You can order masks here.

The USCCA has stepped up to assist as well. For every new member who joins the USCAA during the live broadcast with Tyler Merritt and for the following 24 hours, the organization will donate $50 to Nine Line towards the creation of masks. At the end of the 24-hour period, USCCA will match an additional $50 per new member. New members will all receive a free custom USCAA/Nine Line America Strong t-shirt and a USCCA Training USB. Existing USCCA members may purchase the custom t-shirt for $25.00 with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the Nine Line mask initiative.

Merritt says Nine Line has “the ability to scale from zero to 100 million masks in a couple of days.”

Scientists and engineers have also volunteered their time to Nine Line’s project. Together, Merritt said, they plan to create their own task force to “fix this problem faster.”

But the company needs everyone’s help to get there.

Listen live to Nine Line CEO Tyler Merritt and Tim Schmidt, president and founder of the USCCA Thursday night, April 9, at 7 p.m. Central Time on the USCAA’s channel to learn more.