101st Airborne Troops Headed To Liberia In Ebola Fight

Military.com ^ | Sep 30, 2014 | Richard Sisk

[Iron Munro]

The commanding general of the 101st Airborne Division and 700 of his troops will head to Liberia in late October as the military steps up its response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

The "Screaming Eagle" troops from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, will set up a headquarters in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, and will be joined by 700 combat engineers from several commands, the Pentagon said.

Once the troops have arrived, Army Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commander of the 101st, will replace Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, as commander of the U.S. military response to the Ebola epidemic that has hit hardest in Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone. Williams will return to his post as commander of U.S. Army Africa, the Pentagon said.

Aid groups and officials in West Africa have complained about what they called the slow pace of the U.S. and the international community's response to the epidemic. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon spokesman, took particular issue with published reports calling the military's efforts thus far "slow-footed."

[PghBaldy]

I don’t know. This is important work, if we can do it - supposedly we are going to Africa to build medical units for sick doctors (and a bit of infrastructure too). If they can be taken care of, then they take care of sick Africans. They really can’t afford to lose more doctors and nurses in West Africa. That said, I would feel much better if there were a different CiC.

[Iron Munro]

I don’t know. This is important work, if we can do it - supposedly we are going to Africa to build medical units for sick doctors (and a bit of infrastructure too).

Sounds like the kind of effort we pay hundreds of millions to the UN for every year.

Of course they are preoccupied with their pro-palestinian/anti-Israeli work and using the Global Warming scare to force wealth redistribution on western democracies.

[GrouchoTex]

Should have been sent to the Rio Grande a while ago, instead of Africa now.

[GrouchoTex]

Helluva a way to bring about the end of such a storied unit.
Having known a few great men who served in the Screaming Eagles from WWII(a Bastonge survivor), to Korea and Vietnam, I am saddened and angered by it.