Pentagon Dispatches 101st Airborne to Africa to Tackle Ebola
Source: Time
While the U.S. military has dispatched some 1,600 troops to Iraq in recent weeks to deal with the threats posed by Islamic militants there, it apparently was saving its big guns for a more insidious threat: the Ebola virus.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon announced it will soon have about 1,600 troops in western Africa dealing with the spreading scourgeand that nearly half of them will come from the Armys storied 101st Airborne Division.
Its not an armed threat, Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, said of the Ebola virus Tuesday. But just like any other threat, we take it very, very seriously. While U.S. troops will not be tending to those infected with the disease, he said, they will be trained on personal protective equipment and on the disease itself
well make sure that theyve got the protection that they need.
Read more: http://time.com/3452703/ebola-101st-airborne-africa/
With this deployment, 5 of the Army's 10 Division Command Posts are deployed. (2nd ID Korea, 1st ID going to Iraq, 101st to Liberia, 10th Mountain and 4th ID in Afghanistan. 1st Armored is on Homeland Defense Duty, 25th is the Global Disaster Response Force. This means that from a Command and Control perspective only 3rd Infantry Division, 82nd Airborne, and 1st Cav Division's remain the only Command And Control nodes available to respond to any other crisis. This Army is starting to get stretched thin again from a C2 perspective. YEESH!!!
Sopkoviak
(357 posts)Including bullets in their weapons.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)The units in FORSCOM (Forces Command) are not exactly prepared for this, they are warfighters, not disease fighters. I have a bad feeling about this.
pinto
(106,886 posts)The regions most impacted have limited nuts and bolts set up to meet the needs of communities.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)to address those issues. In fact there are several of them down in San Antonio at Fort Sam Houston. The 101st is a WARFIGHTING UNIT, less than one year back from Afghanistan, meaning that most of the personnel in the unit are fresh off of a COMBAT DEPLOYMENT. If you wanted to send a humanitarian package, you would not send a unit that is less than a year removed from heavy combat against the Taliban in RC-East. Again this feels like a something else.
AllyCat
(16,135 posts)Keeping order?
1dogleft
(164 posts)what is there function supposed to be for this
jwirr
(39,215 posts)hospitals and such. They will also have their own medical units to take care of health problems. I am not so worried about them not knowing what they are doing there. I am glad that they will have all the equipment they need. We sent one army to war without armor that is enough.
pinto
(106,886 posts)I'm missing your point.
Sopkoviak
(357 posts)That the soldiers might not be armed.
They are being deployed to an area of the world where burial details and humanitarian workers are being attacked by panicking people and infected people are being dragged out of the medical facilities by family members.
Just saying that our people better be armed.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)to watch your back.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)I hope they are also going in fully armed. I have bad memories of almost getting swarmed over when I went to Haiti in the mid 1990's and without our Humvees firing their .50 Cal's over the heads of the locals, there would have been several American dead soldiers as a result of those poor desperate people that were trying to overpower us to get at out food and supplies.
pinto
(106,886 posts)I hope it's not that kind of situation.
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)pandemic illness is part and parcel of global climate change
Demeter
(85,373 posts)quadrature
(2,049 posts)(sarcasm)
the war in Libya --> coup in Mali-->
General unrest in the area,-->
food shortages due to war -->
fruitbat, its whats for dinner.
did not cause Ebola
it was economic warfare.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)All of the things you can cause a situation where disease flourishes. Why is it not all of the above?
quadrature
(2,049 posts)not sarcasm, this is my opinion.
long term, some people think that the peoples
of Africa are having their resources stolen,
I will leave that discussion for some other time.
short term. the troubles were made
Much Worse by this chain of events-->
war against Ghadaffi, --> weapons everywhere -->
coup/civil war in Mali -->
unrest and war everywhere in the region -->
food shortages --> people eat fruitbat -->
Ebola
jwirr
(39,215 posts)"Bread for the World". It is also an organization that lobbies for hunger issues but the book really makes it clear how this happens. And if we (the whole world) do not start learning this is going to take all of us down. What happens in Africa happens to us also.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Great way to get "boots on the ground." Send in the military under guise of fighting Ebola..
Once troops are there....they don't leave.
Cynical? Yes...there's reason to be skepital after our track record.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)pinto
(106,886 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)"700-strong headquarters unit from the 101st would head to Liberia by the months end to help coordinate the response to the epidemic."
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)Your point?
Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)And perhaps people didn't realize that the 101st had so many different types of units?
mwrguy
(3,245 posts)TeamPooka
(24,201 posts)Turborama
(22,109 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)first line of work but who else are you going to send to help stop this illness from going much further? Other countries are also responding. This is a world crisis.
AllyCat
(16,135 posts)Trillo
(9,154 posts)A much better use of troops than killing people, imagine using them to save lives instead. I hope they'll all be safe, and that their efforts are successful. Maybe it will be a trend for the future, fewer bullets and more helping hands.
alarimer
(16,245 posts)Do I really need this?
This strikes me as a spectacularly bad idea. Not a way to get them to trust us.
Send medical personnel and epidemiologists, nurses, etc. But guns and ammo? Turn it into a war zone? WTF.
KoKo
(84,711 posts)Especially in a crucial area like African Continent. Mining, Minerals, Oil and competition from China for "Development." A great opportunity under the guise of humanitarian relief. Same as always.
seveneyes
(4,631 posts)If you think it's not needed, ask the dead folks that were killed while trying to help fight Ebola.
riverwalker
(8,694 posts)Using our troops as guinea pigs to test some new Ebola vaccine.
Seems in Desert Storm they were given shit load of untested vaccines, resulting in Gulf War Syndrome.
Big Pharma must be drooling at the potential $$ in Ebola.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)neverforget
(9,436 posts)......
The soldiers from Fort Hood include 500 soldiers from the 1st Medical Brigade, the 36th Engineer Brigade and the 85th Civil Affairs Brigade, officials said. Fort Carson will send about 160 soldiers from the 4th Engineer Battalion, and Fort Bragg will deploy 120 soldiers for engineering and public affairs. The 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and Explosives Command at Aberdeen will send 10 soldiers for laboratory work, and about 100 soldiers from Fort Benning, Fort Stewart and Fort Eustis will round out the force.
The units will begin deploying by late October, and may continue to through November, depending on the need and transportation available, Army officials said.
pinboy3niner
(53,339 posts)I'd heard cable news reports Thursday morning that that engineers were included in the other portion of the deployments, not the 101st. It sounded like the Screaming Eages' "headquarters" deployment would be division-level support units like the Sustainment Brigade.
The local news organ covering Ft. Campbell also published a detailed report:
101st deploying to Liberia to fight Ebola epidemic
http://www.fortcampbellcourier.com/news/article_68d50d32-4a7a-11e4-9137-b3c8c53a732d.html
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)since each of those units has its own Command and Control Node, why is a warfighting command being sent. It is like sending a crate of grenades along with a shipment of vaccines. It makes no sense.
neverforget
(9,436 posts)being deployed, a division HQ is needed to coordinate those units. Brigades are commanded by Colonels so a general and his staff are needed to make sure the units are where they're supposed to be doing what they need too.
Link to US Army command structure:
http://www.army.mil/info/organization/unitsandcommands/oud/
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)I work at 1AD at Fort Bliss, that is why I keep posting. This is so illogical in force structure. Again, this unit is not configured for this mission. They are commands within MEDCOM that make sense, a CP of warfighters is illogical.
neverforget
(9,436 posts)AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)The job of a Division CP (specifically the 101st) is to conduct Intelligence, Maneuver warfare and Command and Control for FORSCOM Brigades. The 101st exists within FORSCOM, not MEDCOM. Ergo it is highly illogical to retask the force structure and have a FORSCOM unit lead a MEDCOM mission. MEDCOM units train together and train with these RMC's as their higher headquarters. They do not train with FORSCOM units. Therefore there will be massive Command and Control challenges. This is not a criticism of PBO, but this is a clusterfuck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Army_Medical_Command
neverforget
(9,436 posts)units that don't deploy. If these were all medical units deploying, I would agree with you. However, with a mix units such as these (medical, MP, engineers), I think an HQ such as the 101st is appropriate. Whether or not that this particular divisional HQ is the right one, I don't know. The JCS and US Army HQ made the call.
AnalystInParadise
(1,832 posts)This feels like a decision that was made because there were no other options.
But they are not in FORSCOM. That is the whole point. The COMS exist to plug in the right units to the right mission. MP's, Engineers, etc all have their own command structures. We are taking a FORSCOM WARFIGHTER UNIT and putting it in charge of a Humanitarian mission with units that have no experience working with each other. The JCS and The Pentagon are not exactly known for always making good decisions.