US troops get four-hour Ebola training before heading to W Africa
US soldiers arriving in Liberia have been staying in hotels and government
facilities while the US military sets up official bases.
Sat Oct 18, 2014 6:39PM GMT
American troops deploying to West Africa to battle the Ebola virus receive
only four hours of training before heading overseas, a report says.
The US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) has
been instructing soldiers at Fort Campbell and Fort Bragg on Ebola
protocols, The Daily Beast reports.
A team of two can train as many as 50 soldiers over a four-hour time frame,
USAMRIID told the online magazine.
The first 500 soldiers arriving in Liberia have been staying in hotels and
government facilities while the US military sets up official bases on the
ground, the report said. Civilians are also staying at the hotels.
According to USA Today, US troops are told that the Ebola virus "basically
causes your body to eat itself from the inside out and that "the
environment we're going into is drastically different [from Afghanistan]...
the stuff that can kill you is much worse."
President Barack Obama has authorized the Pentagon to deploy National Guard
and reserve forces to West Africa to fight the spread of the deadly disease.
Under the presidents order, over 4,000 American troops could be sent to
West Africa.
The US military commander in Liberia, Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, has said
only specially-trained troops would come in direct contact with the virus.
He insisted that the likelihood of US soldiers contracting the virus is
minimal."Im not an epidemiologist, but its been shown that this disease is
most manifest when handling bodily fluid blood, other sorts of fluids, and
there is no plan right now for US soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines to
do that.
The Pentagon estimates that operations in West Africa could last a year or
more.
So far three cases of Ebola have been diagnosed in the United States and
dozens of people are being monitored.
On Saturday, Obama urged Americans not to give in to "hysteria" about the
spread of the deadly virus.
The latest outbreak has taken more than 4,500 lives, most of them in the
West African countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea.
HRJ/HRJ
EM
On the 49th Parallel
Thé Mulindwas Communication Group
"With Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja and Dr. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda is in
anarchy"
Kuungana Mulindwa Mawasiliano Kikundi
"Pamoja na Yoweri Museveni, Ssabassajja na Dk. Kiiza Besigye, Uganda ni
katika machafuko"
_______________________________________________
Ugandanet mailing list
[email protected]
http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/ugandanet
UGANDANET is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/
All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/
The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including
attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way.
---------------------------------------
