100 soldiers from 101st airborne

[skyraider]

100 Soldiers From 101st Airborne Division Arrive in Liberia to Fight Ebola This is insane, stupid, and not needed.

I guess if our government leaders are sending our best to battle a disease, then I think old Chucky, ( Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ) should go there to,imho.

Even Dick Cheney visited the Gulf War zones many times, so why doesn't Chucky go see our men in Africa......................? We had Admirals and Generals in harms way during WW2. I think it has been said, " don't send your men where you will not go" if you are in a leadership position.


Vietnam began like this, 100 here, 500 there, 3000, then 10,000, yes history just keeps on , keeping on.

 

[layoutshooter]

We have NO business sending the military to fight a virus. That is NOT their job. Send the Peace Corps. Better yet, send the congress, pres and vice pres.

 

[cheri1122]

We'd be much safer if the military were sent to hospitals to ensure that the correct protocols are being taught and observed, and that the proper equipment and supplies are available to the staff on the front line of the fight against Ebola.
At the Texas hospital where one patient has died and two nurses have become infected, it's pretty clear that the nurses' claims regarding inadequate training, constantly changing protocols, and insufficient protective gear are not exaggerated.
I'm still gobsmacked that the victim was sent home with a diagnosis of sinus infection after his first visit to the ER. Sinus infections do not cause fever of 103, or stomach pain, and the scans showed no signs of infection in his sinuses, either. How they can defend this is just beyond me.
The hospital admins blamed their "software program" for "not communicating the info on arrival from W Africa from nurses to doctors", until they changed that explanation to another story about why the patient with Ebola was discharged. Who are these idiots?! And why are they in charge of life and death situations, when they make such poor decisions?
I realize that the flu kills more people in the US each year than Ebola has in the entire world, but the level of official incompetence demonstrated by hospital admin in Texas is truly frightening. Because I don't believe it's an anomaly.

 

[FlyingVan]

Maybe the doctors and nurses need some kind of hours of service regulation.

 

[skyraider]

Maybe the doctors and nurses need some kind of hours of service regulation.

You may be closer to the truth then you think. I have a few family members that are nurses, and one OBGYN doctor.
The doctor works 14 + hours a day plus call and he sometimes really looks beat, lots of babies to born, plus operations and so on. I think by midweek the needs a 34 hour restart....

 

[cheri1122]

Maybe the doctors and nurses need some kind of hours of service regulation.

Nurses are required to show proof of a certain number of Continuing Education Hours when renewing their license - if memory serves, it's 24 hours every 2 years.
There is no such requirement for doctors. At one seminar, the doctors who were there [the only one where I saw docs, and the only one to provide food: coincidence?] got a Certificate of Appreciation, though.
It's really the administrators, though, who are not up to the requirements. They're responsible for determining training, creating protocols, and obtaining protective equipment, none of which were good enough at the Texas hospital.
Yes, the doc screwed up in discharging the patient with Ebola, but that could happen anywhere, given the fact that Duncan was the first Ebola patient in the US - no one was expecting it. What's truly horrifying is the nurses' complaints about lack of training and proper equipment/gear to deal with Ebola, once they know what they've got.

 

[wimpy007]

Just what can the 101st do, drop from 9000 ft in full combat gear and engage the ebola outbrake
on a frontal assault. Good lord this men are trained in combat conditions, God grant them safety.

 

[layoutshooter]

Might as well drop an airborne division into a riot to restore reality. OH WAIT! That was done in Detroit in 1967. That worked out well. No problems in Detroit now.

Combat troops have NO business getting involved in civil matters, that includes Ebola.

We have NO business sending combat troops in to fight a virus. Sorry if that offends some. Get over it.

 

[cheri1122]

Might as well drop an airborne division into a riot to restore reality. OH WAIT! That was done in Detroit in 1967. That worked out well. No problems in Detroit now.

Combat troops have NO business getting involved in civil matters, that includes Ebola.

We have NO business sending combat troops in to fight a virus. Sorry if that offends some. Get over it.

Get over yourself - nobody's "offended" by the idea. Everyone is expressing an opinion, which they're entitled to, same as you.
FYI: being offended involves hurt feelings and/or resentment - do you see that in any response? Or is it just the word of the week/month/year that everyone is using [incorrectly]?

 

[Turtle]

Combat troops have NO business getting involved in civil matters, that includes Ebola.

The term "civil" refers to ordinary citizens and their concerns, as differentiated by military or ecclesiastical matters. Yet infectious diseases know such discernment.

We have NO business sending combat troops in to fight a virus. Sorry if that offends some. Get over it.

Sorry to offend you, but despite the headlines and misinformed beliefs, US combat troops are not being sent to Africa to fight a virus. The 101st Airborne's mission is that of logistics, construction and support. The 101st Airborne Division headquarters and about 700 Fort Campbell Soldiers are deploying by the end of October as the Joint Force Command for Operation United Assistance. Also deploying are elements of the 101st Sustainment Brigade and the 86th Combat Support Hospital. Major Gen. Gary J. Volesky, commander of the 101st and Fort Campbell, and his staff will assume command of JFC-OUA. The mission of the JFC-OUA is to support the lead federal agency, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), response to the Ebola virus outbreak in Liberia.

Soldiers from the 101st Airborne will primarily be building hospitals, ultimately leading what could be a contingent of 4,000 American service members. The U.S. military is building a 25-bed hospital and 17 Ebola treatment units, as well as training health-care providers in Liberia. They’ll be housed either in tent cities at military airfields or in Liberian Ministry of Defense facilities. There are no plans for US soldiers to be in contact with any patients. That's USAMRIID's job.

Of course, none of this will matter. Every agency in authority has been 2 steps behind this virus ever since the initial outbreak. Look at the Homeland Security and CDC response at airports. They started screening for Ebola at airports. But not all of them, just the five busiest. What a joke. Everything they've done thus far has been reactive rather than proactive. What they should have done is immediately locked down international travel for 30 days, and then when they had a clearer picture of where the virus was located, then take the appropriate reactive measures.

They get a sick patient with Ebola, so what do they do? They intentionally bring him here into the US for treatment. Result? He spreads the virus into the US. And they're shocked that it happened.

I cannot strongly enough recommend that people read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus (Richard Preston: 8601401254928: Amazon.com: Books).

I read Preston's short story in the New Yorker and then the book when it came out in 1995, and I've never forgotten it. It changed forever how I viewed viruses and epidemics. It's a real pager turner that reads like a novel, but it's horrifyingly real. It also make it unnervingly clear that the world is just a plane ride away from a pandemic, where the Earth could be covered with such a virus in a matter of days. The book provides a basic education about viral education, forensics and precautions, enough that if anyone in Dallas had read the book, that virus absolutely would not have been spread to anybody.

Of the book, Steven King wrote, "The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life -- and then it gets worse. That's what I keep marveling over: it keeps getting worse."

I promise you, if you read this book, you will not look at Ebola, influenza or the common cold in the same way ever again.

And as one reviewer of the book noted, "Terrifying but educational on the virus we are facing. It also makes clear the government doesn't know much and what it does know, they won't tell us."

 

[cheri1122]

I recall seeing something on tv years ago about Ebola, and it was pretty frightening. Don't know if it was Preston's, but I will soon, the Hot Zone is on my Kindle now.
That the basics of containing viral epidemics have been known for years is what is so infuriating with the Dallas hospital and the CDC's response: they should have known better, it's their job.

 

[Turtle]

I recall seeing something on tv years ago about Ebola, and it was pretty frightening. Don't know if it was Preston's, but I will soon, the Hot Zone is on my Kindle now.

It's nearly a non-stop read. Once you start, it's hard to put it down until you've finished it.

That the basics of containing viral epidemics have been known for years is what is so infuriating with the Dallas hospital and the CDC's response: they should have known better, it's their job.

Exactly. The two nurses are now, finally, at BSL-4 facilities in Atlanta and Maryland, but they should have been moved there immediately.

 

[layoutshooter]

EVERY man, woman and whatever, that is in the army, is a rifleman first. That is how it is now, and always has been.

Yes, we are not PLANNING on our troops coming in contact with infected people, but it is possible, and maybe likely, that at least one, will. It is also possible, maybe likely, they will come under fire. Anytime US troops are deployed there is a chance of them being targeted.In Africa that is an even greater possibility. Double that in an area where panic is already taking hold. IF that happens, and they fight back, assuming they are allowed too, the press, and the world, will be outraged at the deaths of "innocents".

It is NOT the mission of the military and the military should NOT be used to fight a virus. We have civilians for that. There are companies that are just as good, or better, than the military in logistics, construction etc. Use them. Contract them to handle this. The military is too weak, too spread out, and over committed now to use them for what is a civilian responsibility.

 

[Turtle]

EVERY man, woman and whatever, that is in the army, is a rifleman first. That is how it is now, and always has been.

Not even close. That's a credo of the Marines, not the Army. The Army is beginning to alter its thinking and training to make that more of a reality, but for the last 50 years or so many people in the Army have been a technician first and riflemen second. Even with altered attitudes in training, getting basic combat training and knowing how to use a firearm isn't gonna make anyone into a rifleman first. all it does is enable people to protect themselves and their unit in an emergency, instead of just getting thrashed. They also learn how to put on a mask during chemical weapons training, but that doesn't make them a chemical weaponsman. Just because you learn how to use a rifle and qualify to exit basic training doesn't mean you're a rifleman. People in the Army are whatever their MOS says they are.

 

[cheri1122]

The job of the US military isto defend the US - not to "break things & kill people" [what an immature attitude that portrays!]. The Ebola virus is a threat to the US, ergo, the military can play a role in defense.
So can us civilians, by educating ourselves on what precautions [if any] we should take as we go about our everyday business.
We need to arm ourselves with knowledge, first of all.
I learned a lot of virology in nursing school, but having no need to practice it, have forgotten much. I plan a refresher course right now, myself, and I hope you all will protect yourselves likewise.
Because no matter how tough you think you are, breaking things & killing people won't protect you from a virus.

 

[Moot]

I cannot strongly enough recommend that people read The Hot Zone: The Terrifying True Story of the Origins of the Ebola Virus (Richard Preston: 8601401254928: Amazon.com: Books).

The book was excellent! Don't waste your time on the movie it spawned though. I don't recall the name of the movie but it starred Dustin Hoffman.

Of the book, Steven King wrote,

"The first chapter of The Hot Zone is one of the most horrifying things I've read in my whole life -- and then it gets worse. That's what I keep marveling over: it keeps getting worse."

What Steven King wrote about the book could also apply to the movie, but not in a complimentary way.

 

[Turtle]

Outbreak (1995) - IMDb

It stars a White-headed Capuchin monkey captured in Zaire, Africa, despite the fact that White-headed Capuchin monkeys are only found in the jungles of Central America and the northern tip of South America.