Sending The Military To Battle Ebola? Is This For Real?

President Obama recently announced his plans to send 3,000 military personnel to Liberia, Africa, for the purpose of combating the deadly Ebola pandemic which has now moved into five countries of western Africa. He called the Ebola outbreak, “the biggest threat facing us today.”

While I agree that the Ebola outbreak is a major threat to the whole world, I’m not so sure that’s it’s the biggest threat out there. ISIS seems to be a bigger threat, as well as one that has malicious intent. That gives ISIS a great advantage in choosing and attacking its enemies.

Besides, where did Obama ever get the idea that military troops were trained and equipped to deal with infectious diseases? An assault rifle isn’t very useful for killing a virus, nor for defending yourself from it. They need medical personnel who are trained in and equipped for dealing with infectious diseases, not Army troops.

There are mixed reports coming out of Washington about exactly what these troops are supposed to do. One statement from the White House is that they will create a Command and Control Center to coordinate efforts in battling the virus.

I’m sure the various medical agencies will be glad to have a bunch of military troops around to tell them what to do. That sounds like a better job for the CDC than the military.

Other possible missions are to build hospitals and train indigenous medical personnel. Unless the hospitals and training are going to be rather rudimentary, which is possible, it’s going to take longer for the “help” to do any good than those people have.

Don’t get me wrong; I’m not against helping the people of Africa in their plight. The United States of American has long been known as a good global neighbor, always ready to help out in any crisis. This is no different; we should reach out a helping hand to those troubled nations. I’m just not too sure about the help that’s being offered.

It seems like I’m not the only one who’s confused about the help being offered. Military and State Department officials, called in to give testimony to the Congressional Oversight Committee are rather confused about what the military is going to do as well.

It seems that nobody is able to tell congress exactly what the plan is and how those troops will be utilized, let alone their level of training, materials to protect our troops and support for them.

The military will be under the nominal command of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a State Department agency. This is either a dream or a nightmare for the State Department, who doesn’t like the military and never has. For the most part, State Department employees see the military as trying to undo everything that they have done.

But, USAID doesn’t really have an idea of how they’re going to use the military either. While they understand that they are to direct the military response, they don’t yet have a plan for how they are going to use them.

They aren’t even able to tell Congress that they know what protective equipment will be supplied to the military. This last is rather hard to believe, as it’s common knowledge that the State Department has requested bids for 160,000 biological hazard suits.

What Would Be the Reason?

Amidst all this confusion, one has to wonder what the real reason for sending the military to Liberia is. It’s commonly known that Obama distains the military, like most liberal politicians. He certainly isn’t doing it to make them look good.

One theory that has been bandied about is that Obama secretly hopes that our troops in Liberia will become infected with Ebola and bring it back home. If you believe that his goal is the destruction of America, that’s a rather believable scenario.

While Obama couldn’t have planned for the Ebola outbreak, there’s nothing to say that he won’t take advantage of it to further his goals. If his goals are truly to destroy America, bringing an infectious disease with a high mortality rate to our shores could very well be the break he’s been looking for.

Contrary to what medical science is telling us, the State Department’s representative told the congressional committee that Ebola is not really all that dangerous. For one thing, it’s not as contagious as it could be, only being transmitted by bodily fluids.

Of course, any healthcare workers who are caring for Ebola patients has regular contact with their bodily fluids. That’s why over 100 of them have been infected in this outbreak.

Poorly trained personnel, functioning as healthcare workers, are much more likely to become infected, simply because they don’t have the experience necessary to make protective measures automatic. Even if they are trained, they will make mistakes, with many of them becoming infected.

This is a very risky move on the part of the Obama administration. While there is a need to do something to help the people of Liberia and the surrounding countries, the question must be raised, “at what price?”

Is the president literally writing off the lives of those servicemen and women, just to look good on the world stage? Is he opening a door for Ebola to jump across the Atlantic and attack us here at home? Or, is he being a visionary, seeing the risk for what it is and trying to stop the spread of the outbreak, before it can get any worse? Only time will tell.

SMD1

This article has been written by Bill White for Survivopedia

Written by

Bill White is the author of Conquering the Coming Collapse, and a former Army officer, manufacturing engineer and business manager. More recently, he left the business world to work as a cross-cultural missionary on the Mexico border. Bill has been a survivalist since the 1970s, when the nation was in the latter days of the Cold War. He had determined to head into the Colorado Rockies, should Washington ever decide to push the button. While those days have passed, the knowledge Bill gained during that time hasn’t. He now works to educate others on the risks that exist in our society and how to prepare to meet them. You can send Bill a message at editor [at] survivopedia.com.

Latest comments
  • Every troop that get orderded there — REFUSE. You will either get sent home in a casket or returned to the US to infect your families and friends

    • Is it possible that Obama is trying to create a national emergency so he can declare martial law and dispense with elections? That’s how his processors in Africa gained control and became tyrannical dictators. Remember Edi Amin? How about Robert Mugabe who took over Rhodesia, and turned the breadbasket of Africa into a basket case. He allowed his soldiers to rape Nuns, burn churches and schools, kill off the whites and redistribute the land to illiterate blacks who are now sitting humped up on once productive farms wondering why they aren’t rich like the white farmers were since they now own the land. Obama isn’t smart enough to run this country as an elected official. If I’m right and he succeeds, then we can expect to be just like those African countries where his predecessors have taken control. Obama wants America to be like Africa. He is working hard at accomplishing it.

    • I guess none of you have heard of a 74D a CBRN specialist (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear) these are the Dragon Soldiers who are trained and specialize to work in CBRN environments and train all the other units in the military in this field. Every unit has one CBRN Sgt or Officer . Theses soldiers work with the CDC, Medical and any other branch of public or government agencies. In state and local govs you use them as Hazmat specialist for the fire department and are Individual Units solely for the purpose of working in contaminated areas. I agree the UN should have a team but who trains them we do. I disapprove of Obama most of the time and yes I would not like this mission but this is what I am trained for I have trained 1000s of civilians and fellow soldiers on decontamination and avoidance this is what I do as a 74D and I been in every war since WWI and deployed forward with every unit ever since you just hadn’t heard about it is like Airborne troops and SOTF Black Ops we go there too.

  • really think a firing squad would be kinder. At least the death would be quick and humane. Little it be known It has been done before, but, against a real and valid threat. Remember Cuban Crisis? If Cuba launched a missile at the United States, there would have been one returning before the entire base could have been evacuated. Thank you JFK.

    • This is a job for the UN forces – not the US!

      • The UN is useless and certainly does not act in the interest of the US.

  • It’s pure insanity! I have always known that the people in Washington DC are evil and this is just proof they are!

  • All of these were exactly my thoughts the moment I heard about Obama’s outrageous decision.

    • But they’re HIS relatives over there.

  • This is a job for the UN forces, not the US!

  • Send only the ones that voted for Obama. If you find you are short, then send the murders, rapists and habituals from prison. (Right Jimmy Carter. An Ebola airlift!)

  • Send only obviously African-American looking soldiers, since it seems that the involved Africans are afraid and suspicious of the white medical personnel.
    And make it on a volunteer basis. Surely sufficient numbers will volunteer to help their “brothers”.

  • Is he insane? I can see sending VOLUNTEER medical personnel, with emphasis on the word “Volunteer”, but to send our Military Units is sending them to death and NOT for the reason they volunteered. If I had a son or daughter in the Military, I would advise him or her to go AWOL, rather than be shipped into the middle of an Ebola Epidemic. We know that Military Headquarteres is going to be slow to recognize and send members back home for prompt Medical Tx, (thinking that they are ‘goldbricking’, and Ebola will spread quickly among the units.
    The World Health Org needs to set up more quarantine areas and more medical areas, and seal off whole villages. The African military needs to be drafted to assist in setting up the quarantine areas and closing roads and sealing areas.

    • And they’ll wait how long? at the VA to get treated?

  • Perhaps our not so illustrious president thinks these troops will be used by local governments to contain the sick from moving about the country. Or to keep the healthy away from the sick. What better training ground for teaching the ins and outs of Marshall Law.

  • I am saddened to see this article and it’s content. I am saddened to see the tone of the responses to this article thus far. I am not an Obama supporter in all things. Mr. White, as an exArmy Officer, must have done his tour of duty with eyes closed. Here are the reasons I believe that Mr. Obama has made the commitment to send 3000 of our troops to battle this disease at it’s source. The U.S. Armed forces have the means necessary to use kit hospitals with isolation units, power, and all that is required to begin this fight. They will have Civil Engineers to set these up and they will have the transportation needed, by land, sea and air to do so. They will have combat equipped troops to protect those assets and I am sure that there will be a Marine Amphibious force on station for the beckon call if needed. Our military personnel train for these types of expeditions and the medical personnel are up to speed on dealing with this issue. Maybe the higher ups, that are the Obama lackys that do not know enough about how the typical Army Unit can respond and what resources they can bring to bear, but I know the commanders of these units know their jobs. We are still the nation that can lead and show compassion even in a difficult environment. The U.S. Military will prove it again and again. I spent 26 years serving our nation in the military and part of that in the medical side of the house. I have worked in the logistics side of knowing what we have and what we can do to.

    • Why must it always be Americans who sacrifice their lives for thankless foriegners??????????????????????

    • David:

      Good to hear from a sane voice. Ebola is hard to transmit. That could change but not likely, not by human hands. The lack of science education among conservatives allows for scares like this to flourish. Our troops are the best they can handle this like they can handle a 5 mile run, no sweat.

      BK

  • I’d use the troops to keep Americans and Europeans to keep from getting off the plane unless they had a good reason to be there. If I were an ISIS strategist, I would send all my potential martyrs with Western passports to the Ebola infested reason, get them good and exposed and then send them home with instructions to sneeze on as many subways and airplanes. Given a 72 hour or more window after exposure prior to full blown symptoms, think how many could be infected by a few dozen folk intent on dying.

    • Thats exactly what the head isis wants. For all those solders to bring it home.

  • Our soldiers aren’t equipped to deal with a biological threat like this. It is true that Ebola is contagious only with close contact, but what are our troops going to be doing? Their NBC/CBR gear isn’t bio-proof. Too many pockets and pouches, zippers and other openings. You can’t put bio-hazard suits on over NBC/CBR gear without giving the wearer heatstroke or heat exhaustion. Not even if the environment was a whole lot cooler. And this is Africa.

    So they’re going to have to strip down to their basic uniforms to wear bio-hazard suits, then put on their MOLLE gear over that. Otherwise, they’re useless as security troops.

    But MOLLE gear has all those pouches and such, too. Impossible to fully decontaminate without putting the whole thing in some sort of extremely harsh chemical bath. Which might damage the gear.

    I wouldn’t trust decontaminated gear afterwards. Throw it away. But the troops aren’t supplied with enough MOLLE gear to just toss anything that might be contaminated. There is going to be pressure to decon the field gear and reuse it.

    Everyone involved is going to be terrified, and that won’t be good.

    Anybody who is infected has, at best, a one-in-three chance of survival.

    God only knows how many we’re going to lose just to Ebola. It wouldn’t surprise me if we have other losses as well.

    With the troops as edgy as they’re going to be, it’ll be easy for shooting incidents to happen with the local people. Everyone is terrified and people aren’t at their best then.

    What will happen if there is a shooting? Many shootings?

    This is the wrong usage of our troops.

  • one question, does anyone remember 1918? The troops brought home the flu. Those who refuse to learn from history are condemned to repeat it.

    • The 1918 “Spanish” Flu originated in a continental United States Army Base, or more specifically in the pigs of the farm next to the military base. We spread it to the rest of the world. If the false flag in Cuba had not gotten us into the Spanish-American War, it would not have spread so widely. Just a week later, and that base would have been quarantined. But your theory of military spread may still be valid, this time.

  • Since most of the people (medical wise) that have contracted the disease, did so because the protective suits are boiling them inside, so they open it to get some air, and get contaminated. Then sending 3000 people to boil to death in the heat, is not a reasonable thought, but then how many reasonable thoughts have come out of Washington lately?

  • The reason they are there is to maintain control of the quarantined people and shoot anyone who tries to escape. This has been done before in Africa in other situations of quarantine. Do a google search, it’s all there to read.

    • Perhaps so, however when firing a weapon at an enemy, it helps to be able to see it without a microscope!

      Has anyone considered that this can/may be used/viewed as a “population control” experiment? How many “diseases” have inexplicably shown up in troubled populations and spread around the globe? We have Bubonic Plague in the US again, Polio resurgence, Measels, mumps, Chickenpox, TB, and more resurging in epidemic proportions in selective areas. How is it that these diseases, conquered in the 19th Century, are coming back with vengeance, and bringing along new, even more devastating diseases?
      Is this God’s way of telling us that we are not omnipotent, and have no business dabbling with genetics, bioengineering, destroying our planet, and ignoring all the obvious warnings we’ve received from the planet itself?

      We are all responsible for the state of the planet, but I do NOT believe our people being sent to their probable deaths; and the potential for bringing this horrendous disease home to their families, is the lawful right of the president or the government in any form. The percentages for survival are stacked against them, there isn’t sufficient equipment or protection for them and they have no means to “fight back”. If I were still in the military and given orders to go there, I would refuse to go. They could put me in the stockade but, at least I wouldn’t be there.

      As for “volunteering” for this mission, the military doesn’t believe in volunteerism, you are chosen, you go, no discussions. We do have “Bio” units, but not many and this is not one of the “common tasks” for them either. Treating a known biological agent is at least a chance, when you’re dealing with a virus – with the potential and probability of its evolving to other even more viral forms – is not a “common task” for anyone.

      There is great concern at the NIH that this virus COULD become airborne – when it does it will spread like the flu does. What then?

  • My question: why on earth if he is going send military, why not send AMRID. But USAID, puhleese.

  • Jesus H. Christ. OK, you hate Obama and you wan to use anything, no matter what, that he does to make him look bad. I get that. You’re hardly alone. But this one is absolute crap. 3,000 soldiers sentenced to death? You KNOW that’s a pure lie. Unless you’re as ignorant as you must hope at least some readers are. In the first place, as deadly as it is, Ebola is not easily spread. Unlike things like the flu, people who are infected are not infetious until they’re actually obviously sick with the thing. Someone with Ebola cannot give it to anyone else until AFTER he actually starts getting sick. Even then, for someone to get it from him they have to have physical contact with the sick guy’s blood or body fluids, and that contact has to be with the healthy guy’s blood, like if he has a cut somewhere on his body, or with the membranes in his eyes, nose, mouth or genitals. So if someone’s sick with Ebola, all one has to do is avoid any contact with his blood or body fluids. Read “protective clothing”. The reason it’s spreading is that most African burial rituals require physical handling of the body, usually by relatives, who don’t even know how to avoid getting infected. So they do contact the fluids, then all they have to do is rub an eye within a short time (compared to other viruses Ebola dies pretty quickly once it’s out of someone’s body get the virus. The second reason it’s spreading is that these countries just don’t have any places to put the sick people, places where the staff is trained in treating blood and fluids as hazardous materials (HAZMATs), which they are. The few who did get into hospitals got into hospitals that didn’t have the trained people or the equipment, not even the protective clothing, to treat Ebola, so even health care people got sick, the hospitals were overwhelmed, and couldn’t even take new patients in. So now get actually sick, and therefore infectious, stay at home, and keep coming in contact with other people who, like the people doing burial rituals, don’t know how to keep themselves safe. If people who came down with Ebola were put into an Ebola treatment center, staffed with properly trained staff and equipped with the necessary materials, right away, the epidemic would die off. And the soldiers being sent are NOT going to be treating, or even contacting, people sick with Ebola. They’re getting special training in recognizing anyone sick with the disease, and to avoid any physical contact with them. They’re going there to build Ebola treatment facilities, so the sick people can be removed from the population and treated by people who know what they’re doing. These soldiers will not be treating anyone, they will not be moving among the local population, and they will not be near the facilities they build once they open and start taking in patients, and they will not be eating monkeys that have been hunted in the jungle or around monkeys that could bite them, which is how Ebola moved from monkeys to humans. Or eating or around any other local animals, for that matter. So just HOW are the going to get sick and die? Like I said, you’re just plain lying. And that is just plain stupid. As far as Obama is concerned, there are 3 kinds of people. Ones that hate him, ones that love him, and ones that neither hate or love him, but are wiling to criticize him when he screws up, who can even be convinced he is really bad for this country. The first group is already on your side, and don’t need lies to convince them. The second geoup is going to see some kind of a lie in anything you say, even when it’s true. This leaves the last group, people who might possibly be convinced. The reason that something like this article is stupid is that most people like that are also the kind who usually know what’s actually happening where anything important is concerned and, already knowing everything I just said about Ebola and what those soldiers will really be doing, will know you’re lying. The really stupid part is that not only won’t ou convince them, but the more often they see you lying just to cut down Obama, the less attention they’ll pay to anything you say, and the more suspicious they’ll be about anything from you that they do read. You know those “undecided voters” you always hear about? That’s who most of these people are. They’re also the people that have to be convinced by whichever side wants to win close elections. So why are you setting yourself up to have no effect with these people? Maybe you don’t really care, you just want to spout whatever will sound good to everyone who are already Obama haters, so they’ll keep your readership numbers up. That’s the only logical reason I can figure out for this nonsense. And if it is your reason, you’re not only not helping the cause, you’re hurting it. The more obvious lies the Obama lovers can point to, the harder it becomes to convince those undecideds, and then “battleground states” get lost. Like I said, stupid.

    • Yeah, and all these soldiers are trained in handling medical situations and all speak the language, so they can reason with these people.

    • Let me guess:
      1-You’re caucasian
      2- You voted for him
      3-You’re either a teacher or a social worker.

  • From what I’ve gathered, our troops are to protect medical personnel as they attempt to assess the population. Evidently, the people of Africa are suspicious of those in charge (sound familiar, anyone?) and are ambushing those sent in to diagnose and bring aid. Now if our military brass are fuzzy about the objective, then what I’ve heard is someone trying to put a better spin on an undeniably deranged decision. Nero, you’ve met your match.

  • Insanity! CLOSE our borders and send the UN over there instead! Or maybe our “leader” in Chief would like to go show them how its done? How and why are our Congress people sitting there at DC and doing zip?!? This is not in our Constitution to send Armies to “fight ” diseases! Send them to protect our borders first..what a lame brain , stupid Obama idea! I hope there will be a mass “NO GO” from every unit and soldier! ANd I will be ringing the phones off my Congress-“do- nothings!”

  • The only troops that have the skills to deal with this are the chem corps. They have the gear for this. Are there 3,000 of them, no. The cdc should go deal with this. The Muslim in chief may hate the military but will use them every chance he can.

  • But won’t Al Sharpton go running over there after they shoot the first one????

  • Regardless of his intent, he is opening the gate to a domestic epidemic. And in today’s news we learn that most US hospitals can’t handle the disposal of contaminated medical wastes. So highly infectious materials will pile up anywhere we treat one of those 3000 people who get sick – making more people sick.

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