Washington (AFP) - US President Barack Obama will try to “turn the tide” on the Ebola epidemic Tuesday by ordering 3,000 US military personnel to west Africa to curtail its spread as China also dispatched more experts to the region.
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Most of the US effort, which will draw heavily on its military medical corps, will be concentrated in impoverished Liberia – the worst hit nation – with plans to build 17 Ebola treatment centres with 100 beds in each
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The Obama administration believes its latest emergency action could help “turn the tide” and slow the spread of the epidemic.
The White House however still believes that there is no realistic threat to the United States from Ebola. It believes that any cases that do materialise on the US soil would be quickly isolated.
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Opinions?
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Opinions?
My opinion is that this actually equates to ~6000 boots on the ground.
LOL I was thinking of you when I wrote the title because of you love for the term.
"My opinion is that this actually equates to ~6000 boots on the ground. "
Beat me to it!
If there’s much air force involvement, that will reduce the number of boots in lieu of flip-flops though…
I struggle with understanding how this is a military function.
There are some non-combat functions that I grudgingly accept using the military for. I can understand using the military for response to disasters. I’m on the fence about using the military for nation building. But using our military for fighting disease in Africa isn’t something I can get behind.
But using our military for fighting disease in Africa isn’t something I can get behind.
I would be interested in finding out the type of military being sent over there and what expertise level. I would think 3000 people from the CDC with a few military people just in case all hell broke lose would be a better idea then 3000 military people. Of course there are military doctors as well so maybe those are the “Boots” that we sent with some contingent of “Gun slingers”.
Done improperly it could lead to a bigger mess for us. A bunch of people trained largely in killing people with little knowledge of disease control could make matters worse and end up with several more people being brought here in isolation planes.
~Matt
Cuba is sending in 160 health workers. The troops must be there to back them up.
So the troops are going shoot Ebolas?
I believe there are some pretty highly trained specialists in infectious diseases in the military, so I’m sure they’ll be leading the effort. Some security folks also make sense. But 3,000 is a pretty sizeable effort, even when you consider that the logistics footprint would be the overwhelming majority.
OP stated ‘military medical corps’
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Being recently retired I can unequivocally state that if were still on active duty I would rather face ISIS than be thrust into the Ebola mixing bowl of humanity that is west Africa.
“I would be interested in finding out the type of military being sent over there and what expertise level.”
I’m assuming these are not combat troops? I can see military medical personnel and others building hospitals, etc. as being very helpful. Liberia has only one trained doctor for every 100,000 people. Not sure what the stats are for the other involved countries, but its obvious what is needed is trained health care workers. I can’t see combat troops of being a lot of use in fighting an epidemic.
When Obama says could help turn the tide, should I expect it to spread quickly to the US?
"I would rather face ISIS than be thrust into the Ebola mixing bowl of humanity that is west Africa. "
X 2. Was thinking the exact same thing.
So the troops are going shoot Ebolas?
I think many will be the engineer corp building the emergency medical facilities they are talking about.
“I would be interested in finding out the type of military being sent over there and what expertise level.”
I’m assuming these are not combat troops? I can see military medical personnel and others building hospitals, etc. as being very helpful. Liberia has only one trained doctor for every 100,000 people. Not sure what the stats are for the other involved countries, but its obvious what is needed is trained health care workers. I can’t see combat troops of being a lot of use in fighting an epidemic.
Read the OP again…
Most of the US effort, which will draw heavily on its military medical corps
So the troops are going shoot Ebolas?
I think many will be the engineer corp building the emergency medical facilities they are talking about.
So they are going to build buildings, put snipers on the roof and shoot Ebolas?
Seriously, though, why send military and not private contractors for these construction projects?
Is there an echo in here? 
“I would be interested in finding out the type of military being sent over there and what expertise level.”
I’m assuming these are not combat troops? I can see military medical personnel and others building hospitals, etc. as being very helpful. Liberia has only one trained doctor for every 100,000 people. Not sure what the stats are for the other involved countries, but its obvious what is needed is trained health care workers. I can’t see combat troops of being a lot of use in fighting an epidemic.
Read the OP again…
Most of the US effort, which will draw heavily on its military medical corps
There will be a mix of troops. You need the actual medical personnel (doctors, nurses, lab techs, xray techs, etc), administrative personnel for records keeping and administration for the military structure, logistics personnel for ordering and maintaining supplies, food service personnel, plus engineering personnel to set up and maintain the facilities, generators, etc and some sort of security force to ensure that everyone is safe, supplies aren’t stolen, etc.