View Full Version : US Sending 3,000 Troops to Africa to Battle Ebola
Let's hope they don't bring any more of them back here.
US Sending 3,000 Troops to Africa to Battle Ebola
The U.S. military will send 3,000 troops to the heart of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia and devote air assets to delivering medical supplies and personnel as part of a stepped up effort to battle the epidemic that has claimed more than 2,100 lives in West Africa, the White House announced late Monday night.
U.S. Africa Command will coordinate the response that will be led by a general officer from U.S. Army Africa and will operate from a Joint Force Command to be set up in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. The general who will lead the effort was not named Monday night.
Most of the 3,000 troops who will deploy will operate from a regional intermediate staging base in Liberia "to facilitate and expedite the transportation of equipment, supplies and personnel" in the effort to bring the virus under control, the White House said.
The Army Corps of Engineers was also expected to be involved in helping to construct and expand treatment facilities.
The overall effort will "leverage the unique capabilities of the U.S. military to help bring the epidemic under control," according to a White House statement. "These efforts will entail command and control, logistics expertise, training and engineering support."
The details of the plan are scheduled to be announced by President Obama in a visit Tuesday to the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta.
The White House announcement followed weeks of criticism from aid groups and African governments for the lack of an adequate response by the U.S. to the Ebola epidemic which has hit hardest in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea. Cases have also been reported in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Last week, the Pentagon said that $22 million was being allotted to build a 25-bed field hospital in Liberia solely for the treatment of health care workers. Military personnel who set up the field hospital would leave immediately after it was operational, Pentagon officials said.
Laurie Garrett, a senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the commitment of $22 million for a small field hospital was "deeply disappointing" given the scope of the spreading Ebola epidemic.
"There is no organization on the planet that can mobilize or handle actual logistics better than the U.S. military," Garrett said.
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday rejected the criticism. The U.S. has invested more than $150 million to controlling the epidemic and "the CDC has responded commensurate to the seriousness" of the crisis, Earnest said.
At meetings in Washington earlier this month, officials of the United Nations' World Health Organization (WHO) said the Ebola outbreak could be stopped in six-to-nine months but only with a "massive" international response.
"We don't have enough health workers, doctors, nurses, drivers, and contact tracers" to handle the increasing number of cases, said Keiji Fukuda, the WHO Assistant Director-General for Global Health Security.
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2014/09/16/us-sending-3000-troops-to-liberia-to-battle-ebola.html
OMG, 3,000 Boots on the Ground? Oh, wait...they'll just be building hospitals and driving buses.
Right...
Stay safe and shoot straight, y'all. Keep the shiny side up. God be with you.
Don't need to put our troops at risk. Send in a bunch of bleeding heart liberals. They love these kind of causes. And keep our troops for fighting our wars.
Paragrouper
09-16-2014, 06:56
Don't need to put our troops at risk. Send in a bunch of bleeding heart liberals. They love these kind of causes. And keep our troops for fighting our wars.
Bleeding heart liberals don't actually participate--just pontificate.
Surely the administration is putting together a coalition to handle this outbreak.
I was thinking we should start-up a combat sandal company and take advantage of the no boots on the ground fad.
Scimitar
09-16-2014, 08:08
Don't need to put our troops at risk. Send in a bunch of bleeding heart liberals. They love these kind of causes. And keep our troops for fighting our wars.
Good relationship building in an AO were we're fighting a pretty real PR war, no?
S
rubberneck
09-16-2014, 08:13
POTUS is willing to put boots on the ground in a worthless hell hole with an Ebola outbreak and no clear national interest but he isn't willing to send 3000 troops to take the fight to ISIS. Makes sense.:rolleyes:
I was thinking we should start-up a combat sandal company and take advantage of the no boots on the ground fad.
http://www.combatflipflops.com/
...and...
http://www.extremeoutfitters.us/combatflipflopstucktuckpreorder-1.aspx
:lifter
I don’t know how to feel about this. I mean, I ain't Moses or Aaron but I'm stuck somewhere in the congregation…
Bond of brothers: Ex-soldiers enlist Afghans to craft military themed flip-flops
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/10/09/14299701-bond-of-brothers-ex-soldiers-enlist-afghans-to-craft-military-themed-flip-flops?lite
By Jeff Black, Staff Writer, NBC News
Whether fighting Taliban in the remote mountain valleys of Afghanistan or snowboarding down a double-black-diamond run in the Cascade range, you want your brothers with you. And the same goes for starting a small business selling flip-flops inspired by military service and the Afghan people.
That’s why West Point graduate-turned beachwear entrepreneur Matthew Griffin, his brother in-arms Donald Lee and brother-in-law, Andrew Sewrey, joined together to deliver a new twist on beach footwear -- Combat Flip Flops.
Griffin and Lee served two tours as special ops Army Rangers in Afghanistan together from 2003 to 2006. Lee also was involved in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The idea for Combat Flip Flops, which sells high end togs with names like the AK-17 for men and Bombshell Light for women, is headquartered in a one-car garage a stone’s throw from a salmon stream in the foothills outside Seattle. It started like many things in that part of the country do, with a cup of coffee.
In 2010, Griffin had returned to Kabul as a medical training and equipment supplier to the Afghan military when he met an American who managed a shoe factory at a business conference. The factory was set up by Afghan families who’d been running shoe factories for years and were able to obtain U.S. government contracts to make footwear for the U.S. military.
(Cont.)
I was thinking we should start-up a combat sandal company and take advantage of the no boots on the ground fad.
Follow the Roman Legionnaire approach? That would make for some great marketing. :D
PokemonMaster
09-16-2014, 09:01
I was thinking we should start-up a combat sandal company and take advantage of the no boots on the ground fad.
I think this is a great move. We can cull the virus before it mutates which is great for the whole planet. We can also show them that our money is better than Chinese money. We can get a few contracts bases out of this.
a continuation of our f-troop foreign policy
The Reaper
09-16-2014, 11:05
Great idea.
What could go wrong here?
Maybe we should staff it with Peace Corps personnel after we get our troops out.
They might enjoy a brief vacation with Boko Haram before Ebola gets them.
TR
Team Sergeant
09-16-2014, 11:28
Great idea.
What could go wrong here?
Maybe we should staff it with Peace Corps personnel after we get our troops out.
They might enjoy a brief vacation with Boko Haram before Ebola gets them.
TR
Well seeing that most of the military votes with the GOP it's a grand idea.
10-15 million new undocumented democrats about to be given amnesty, welfare, free medical and education. Sounds fair to me.
I'm going to clean weapons, it's almost time to start voting from the rooftops......... :munchin
Don't need to put our troops at risk. Send in a bunch of bleeding heart liberals. They love these kind of causes. And keep our troops for fighting our wars.
Awww, they've already done their part in combating this with a hashtag campaign ... #stopebolanow #ebolanedstobestopped #thinkofthechildrendyingfromebola
They don't need to be bothered about this from the peasants. They're off drinking mineral water and eating their daily allotment of kale.
Not a deployment I'd look forward to.....couldn't we put 3k troops otg to go after Boko Haram....probably be safer too.
Badger52
09-16-2014, 14:08
You mean Oprah, the UN, and Angelina Jolie couldn't do this with a drone?
They don't need to be bothered about this from the peasants. They're off drinking mineral water and eating their daily allotment of kale.Alot of work trying to eradicate the incandescent light bulb.
While SECDEF said this AM that he'd reserve decisions about "advisors" in IZ actually accompanying "combat" troops on missions and would take that on a case-by-case basis to POTUS for his decision (sound familiar?), I wonder how the peasants feel about their sons & daughters going off to such a disease-ridden shithole on a case by case basis.
Whoever it is, bless & keep them and remember the words of WO Ripley.
TOMAHAWK9521
09-16-2014, 18:46
Or we could cleans the area with nuclear weapons and keep our troops safe.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lO2-YxWkRxk
Bleeding heart liberals don't actually participate--just pontificate.
Amen to this Statement!!
Man this mission will suck!!
Glad I'm stuck in a Office now!!
Amen to this Statement!!
Man this mission will suck!!
Glad I'm stuck in a Office now!!
SOF are blessed in that they are trained and equipped to adapt to shitty conditions and still come out on top.
I pity and pray for the GI line soldier who hasn't had that training or motivational fellowship, who knows only how to drive a skip loader, a back hoe or do what the hell the CSM tells him / her.
Yes, sir. This mission will suck. Pray for those poor grunts. God protect, preserve, and bless every one of them.
1stindoor
09-17-2014, 06:43
Correct me if I'm wrong...but actual doctors, you know the ones that actually graduated from "evil medical school," that are trained to deal with viruses...contracted ebola. Sooooo...the obvious answer is to send 3,000 troops to the area. I mean, what could go wrong?
PedOncoDoc
09-17-2014, 07:05
Correct me if I'm wrong...but actual doctors, you know the ones that actually graduated from "evil medical school," that are trained to deal with viruses...contracted ebola. Sooooo...the obvious answer is to send 3,000 troops to the area. I mean, what could go wrong?
I'm not sure how many of us actual doctors that went through "evil medical school" were formally and extensively trained to work in a biosafety level 4 environment, in the midst of a the chaos that most certainly is present in a quarantine zone.
I don't think conventional troops are the correct answer, either.
I don't know what the right answer is, but I don't think many people are trained for this scenario - please correct my ignorance if it doesn't violate OPSEC.
Some commentators say that it is a good thing to send troops to deal with the ebola problem because it is out of control in West Africa (in the cities now) and could destroy West Africa. And there is the very slight chance that it could mutate into something more easily spread, and if so, we want to have taken the steps necessary so that it stays in Africa.
Commentators....i.e. Talking Heads
In many (Most) cases Commentators are paid to appear on TV Networks to pimp something they do not have a physical stake in whatever it is.
Take Art Cashin for example, he might suggest it is a wonderful idea to send 3,000 troops over, bring a up a Dustin Hoffman movie and follow it up that by advising several companies would be good investments because they are going to make huge profits selling HAZMAT Suits.
John McCain (or any politician or Agency Head) comments on stuff all the time, he says one thing one day and the next day in a different venue he says something different. It all depends on who is walking in or out the door and the time you catch him in between.
Michael Chertoff might make the rounds extolling the virtues of this Grand Plan because his has some new body scanners he can sell TSA that can detect Ebola in travelers!
When Boko captures and/or massacres some of these people, or Ebola runs through their ranks or God forbid it gets loose on our shores these same commentators will be back on TV trying to distance themselves from the fallout saying I told you so and trying to pimp a new Grand Plan.
And while all that is going on our Southern Border is WFO for any Ebola laced person or persons to travel across...and they will likely be met with gifts from Uncle Sugar and a free bus ticket to somewhere in the US. And in the on the other side of the Globe ISIS is grabbing land and beheading people like there is no tomorrow
1stindoor
09-17-2014, 10:19
I'm not sure how many of us actual doctors that went through "evil medical school" .....
Hope you didn't take offense doc...it's just one of my more favorite lines from Austin Powers. A former teammate of mine, and now a doctor, loves to use that line.
I want to shoot an ebola in the face...
...I hope the ROE is relaxed enough so troops can actually conduct some agressive combat operations against these ebloa fuckers.
PedOncoDoc
09-17-2014, 10:51
Hope you didn't take offense doc...it's just one of my more favorite lines from Austin Powers. A former teammate of mine, and now a doctor, loves to use that line.
I didn't catch the Austin Powers reference - If my skin were that thin I'd have run off crying for my mommy years ago. ;)
So even if wrong, I think their opinion there is well-intended.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
And while all that is going on our Southern Border is WFO for any Ebola laced person or persons to travel across...and they will likely be met with gifts from Uncle Sugar and a free bus ticket to somewhere in the US. And in the on the other side of the Globe ISIS is grabbing land and beheading people like there is no tomorrow
Exactly. I'd be shocked if Ebola hasn't made its way to Mexico already.
The Reaper
09-17-2014, 13:19
I want to shoot an ebola in the face...
...I hope the ROE is relaxed enough so troops can actually conduct some agressive combat operations against these ebloa fuckers.
No weapons.
If there are any, the HN / US Ambassador will require that they be locked in a secure CONEX, separate from the ammunition storage.
Might offend the militants. Er, I mean locals. :rolleyes:
TR
It was Charles Krauthammer, George Will, and Juan Williams I was watching who said they thought it was a good thing Obama was doing (sending troops to Africa). I agree with your point about commentators, however I find those three pretty honest-seeming. So even if wrong, I think their opinion there is well-intended.
It doesn't matter who it was IMO, none of those 3 is going to put themselves in harms way. So until or unless they are willing to put themselves, or their loved ones in harms way instead expecting others to carry the burden and reaping the benefits of their their words are pure SPIN.
Chuck G. said: "Don't need to put our troops at risk. Send in a bunch of bleeding heart liberals. They love these kind of causes. And keep our troops for fighting our wars."
I agree 100%. Between our military being used for "meals-on-wheels", and now subjecting these men to a nasty disease that has no absolute cure... this deployment will definitely suck - big time. Time for a mutiny...
Broadsword said: "It was Charles Krauthammer, George Will, and Juan Williams I was watching who said they thought it was a good thing Obama was doing (sending troops to Africa). I agree with your point about commentators, however I find those three pretty honest-seeming. So even if wrong, I think their opinion there is well-intended."
Sure these talking heads will volunteer anyone but themselves. Same as that POS infesting the White House, among others.
Sinjefe said: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."
That about sums it up.
spherojon
09-18-2014, 15:00
According to every "zombie" apocalypse movie/show, I am almost positive this is how the movie starts out. Didnt this current administration watch Outbreak with Dustin Hoffman?!
So boots on the ground vs Ebola, no boots on the ground with ISIS. Got it.
Medical units, engineer units, some transportation and logistical units, some profor (e.g., MPs) - same as after a tsunami, hurricane, etc. or any other humanitarian effort.
Meh.
Richard
The Reaper
09-18-2014, 18:32
Sure.
Except that you can't bring a tsunami, hurricane, etc. back home with you.
TR
Using the Military to fight Ebola sounded like something Samantha Power would push......This from the US Radical, Humanitarian, Activist, Ambassador to the U.N. wife of Cass Sunstein
"Today, instead of isolating the affected countries, we call for flooding them, flooding them with resources," said Samantha Power, the United States' ambassador to the U.N.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/18/united-nations-ebola/15835587/
Using the Military to fight Ebola sounded like something Samantha Power would push......This from the US Radical, Humanitarian, Activist, Ambassador to the U.N. wife of Cass Sunstein
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/18/united-nations-ebola/15835587/
Jeez....
Which part is worse? That...or this:
Thursday was the only the third time in the history that the U.N Security Council met to confront a public health issue. The only other times meetings focused on AIDS.
I don't know about you, but I take comfort in knowing that such a high performance organization has so much experience in these matters.
“You can see that these doctors, who are highly trained people, got themselves infected,” said Dr. Lee Hieb, former president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. “So sending troops into an area, if they’re dealing one-on-one with a patient, they’re not going to be able to protect themselves very well. It’s not easy to [prevent transmission], because you get tired and you get careless and you make some simple mistakes. All it takes is one virus particle.”
http://www.wnd.com/2014/09/doctors-irresponsible-to-send-troops-to-combat-ebola/
Although I'm guessing Dr Hieb may not be aware of the exact force structure(nor am I) of the folks deployed such as Doctors, Nurses, PAs and their direct support as opposed to common civilian perceptions of soldiers.
YM Cating
09-28-2014, 09:11
Ya know it's funny. If this had been intentionally released we wouldn't be sending troops just for the mere fact that it had a bad guy behind it. But when it's something that regular people can handle, what do we do? Send in the military. Makes no damn sense.
Let someone who's purpose is disaster relief go deal with it. Send the 3,000 troops on a combat mission. IS is trying to kill us here, so lets handle that threat, cause it's spreading faster.
"Obamacare goes to Africa!" (It's like watching a monkey fiddle with a football.)
U.S. Troops Battling Ebola Get Off to Slow Start in Africa
By Drew Hinshaw in Robertsville, Liberia, and Betsy McKay in Atlanta
http://online.wsj.com/articles/u-s-troops-battling-ebola-get-off-to-slow-start-in-africa-1411948064
The American military effort against history's deadliest Ebola outbreak is taking shape in West Africa, but concerns are mounting that the pace isn't fast enough to check a virus that is spreading at a terrifying clip.
On Saturday, a handful of troops from the Navy's 133rd Mobile Construction Battalion led a bulldozer through thigh-high grass outside Liberia's main airport, bottles of hand sanitizer dangling from their belt loops.
They had been digging a parking lot in the East African nation of Djibouti this month when they received a call to build the first of a dozen or more tent hospitals the U.S intends to construct in this region. The soldiers started by giving the land a downward slope for water runoff—"to keep out any unwanted reptiles," said Petty Officer Second Class Justin Holsinger.
While this team levels the earth, superiors hash out the still-uncertain details of the American intervention here.
The epidemic is showing signs of gaining speed—6,574 cases had been reported officially as of Sept. 23, with 3,091 deaths. Those fatalities are more than double the number of both a month ago. The actual number of cases is believed to be three or four times as high. Had no international aid come, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said, the number of cases in Liberia and Sierra Leone might have soared to 1.4 million by mid-January.
On Sunday, meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health said it is preparing to care for an American doctor who was exposed to the Ebola virus while volunteering in Sierra Leone.
"There is no argument the disease is out in front of the response," said Ken Isaacs, vice president of programs and government relations for Samaritan's Purse, who as an expert in humanitarian assistance is leading who is leading the relief organization's Ebola efforts in Liberia. In terms of response, he added, "where we are today is where we should have been 60 to 90 days ago."
A local health official checks the temperature of a newly arrived U.S. soldier at the airport in Robertsfield, Liberia, as other troops disembark. Glenna Gordon for The Wall Street Journal
Now, some help has arrived, partly in the form of a rare—if not unprecedented—U.S. effort. They will level swampy grassland, unload supplies and build tents, then train thousands of nurses from Sierra Leone and Liberia to treat Ebola.
The epidemic in Liberia and Sierra Leone will likely worsen until 70% of Ebola patients can find room in a treatment center or other setting where they can't transmit the disease to others, the CDC said. Currently, just 18% do so, it said.
On Sept. 16, President Barack Obama ordered 3,000 U.S. soldiers into West Africa. In a speech at the United Nations on Thursday, Mr. Obama criticized the international response thus far and said other donors—governments and organizations—need to step up quickly with aid.
"Right now, everybody has the best of intentions, but people are not putting in the kinds of resources that are necessary to put a stop to this epidemic," he said. More nations urgently need to contribute goods and services like health-care workers, equipment and air transport, he said.
Several countries and organizations have donated money and technical assistance, from the World Bank to Cuba, which is sending 165 doctors, nurses and other health specialists to the region. But more is needed, particularly because the health systems in Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea have been overwhelmed.
Other help is beginning to arrive. On Sunday morning, a privately contracted 747 cargo plane landed with 2,016 rolls of plastic sheeting from the U.S. government, one of the materials needed to build an Ebola clinic.
It would take hours to unload the plane, the crew said. Liberia's airport, built in 1942, had just three small forklifts. U.S. Air Force personnel will also have to repair the runway, or for the time being, just paint it so planes don't land on parts in disrepair.
"Some companies would rather go to Afghanistan than come here," said the plane's loadmaster, Felix Curtis.
In the cockpit, a nervous first officer was wearing surgical gloves, a medical mask on his seat. He shared a pen with a Liberian, then darted to the bathroom to wash his hands: "Am I going to be OK?" he asked.
The files on most of Liberia's Ebola cases are stored in three-ring binders on a shelf in an abandoned World War II-era chimpanzee testing lab, filled with bats. That is where the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases conducts blood tests for Ebola. A small three-ring binder holds all the case files from April 15 to Aug. 12. A binder twice that size holds the files from just five days in late September.
"Well," said Alec Hail, the doctor who supervises the testing. "That's remarkable."
(Cont.)
Yep...truly remarkable! Obama's foreign policy rides again!