[ In closing, a historical note: the incubation period for ebola is supposedly 21 days, and the virus may linger for longer periods in semen and vaginal secretions. Do we plan to place military members returning from West Africa in isolation, or release them into the general public? In 1918-1919, many Americans who caught the Spanish flu—and died from it—contracted the bug from soldiers who had returned from Europe. ]
Also how many “Nidal Hasan” types would be sent who would willing infect themselves after leaving quarantine zone with smuggled vials of active ebola cultures????
As far as potential traitors within the military (who are willing to serve as human vectors), I think the numbers are miniscule. I’m much more concerned about troops who are being sent to carry out a near-impossible mission without the proper training/equipment, and virtually no regard for their safety.
Going back to my days as a medic—and my experience is very dated, there were only a handful of units/facilities that were remotely qualified to handle something like this: Fort Detrick, and a few folks at Walter Reed, Bethesda (now a single facility) and perhaps Wilford Hall.
One of the most telling moments in this entire affair came when President Obama announced we would not be sharing the experimental Ebola vaccine with doctors in the most-affected countries because they were “incapable of using it” or something like that. The real truth, I believe, is that our leaders know Ebola’s arrival in the U.S. is inevitable, and the few available doses have been reserved for senior government officials and members of their families.