According to Reuters, spouses
of U.S. soldiers headed to Liberia are worried over the health and safety of their loved ones.
For these families, the virus is raising a different kind of anxiety
than the one they have during 13 years of ground war in
Afghanistan and Iraq. They want to know how the military can keep
soldiers safe from the epidemic.
"Ebola is a different problem set that the division hasn't (faced)
before," said Major General Gary Volesky, who will soon head to Liberia
along with soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division.
There are already more than 350 U.S. troops on the ground in West
Africa, mostly in Liberia, including a handful from the 101st. That
number is set to grow exponentially in the coming weeks as the military
races to expand Liberia's infrastructure so it can battle Ebola.
The military has already stood up a headquarters in Liberia's capital,
Monrovia, and hopes to have a 25-bed field hospital up and running by
the middle of this month. It also aims to quickly build up to 17 Ebola
treatment units.
Volesky said he has seen more of what he called "stay behind dialogue"
after these pre-deployment briefings, something he encourages.
The message at Fort Campbell and at American military bases elsewhere is
that the threat from Ebola is manageable. With the right precautions,
the risk is low. U.S. soldiers certainly will not be treating sick
Liberians and, if all goes according to plan, they will not interact
with them either.
But there is still concern among military families. That is something
U.S. forces on the ground say they are wrestling with, even as they
report feeling relatively safe from infection.
"I have two kids ... Of course they're worrying about their dad,"
Lieutenant Colonel Scott Sendmeyer, the chief engineer now in Monrovia,
told Reuters by phone.
"At the same time, I've shared the training that I've received with my
family ... That's the way I (relieve) them of their fears."
The hemorrhagic fever, which has no proven cure, has killed more than
4,000 people in West Africa since an outbreak that began in March. More
than half the dead have been in Liberia, where the healthcare system is
still reeling from a devastating 1989-2003 civil war.
The risks of failing to contain Ebola in West Africa have come into
sharp focus in the United States after the first patient diagnosed with
the disease on U.S. soil, Thomas Eric Duncan, died on Wednesday.
As the Ebola threat evolves, the Pentagon has acknowledged the size and
duration of the mission in West Africa could too. Deployments might even
top the current projection of nearly 4,000, an increase from an earlier
estimate of around 3,000.
To operate safely in Monrovia and beyond, the Army is giving soldiers
safety training, including a course for 150 soldiers on Thursday at Fort
Campbell.
The group of soldiers carefully listened to instructors from the U.S.
Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, who spelled out
the dangerous of Ebola, which kills nearly half of the people it
infects.
Captain Alex Willard, who was undergoing the training, said the West
Africa mission was far different than the kinds of operations in Iraq
and Afghanistan than many in the 101st "probably are more comfortable
with."