What training do Airborne troops get on contagious diseases?
Short answer: none. Ditto for Air Force personnel from Langley AFB, VA who are also enroute to the hot zone.
I began my career as a military medic over 30 years ago; I was trained to the EMT Level 1 before getting a chance to work for the wing commander and eventually going to Officer Training School. As a medic, I never had any type of training for dealing with something as deadly as ebola, and our doctors and nurses were equally unprepared.
There are military organizations (USAMID) that are trained/equipped for this type of mission. But “line” engineer, logistics and security personnel are not trained for this type of mission. And the idea you can keep them away from people who’ve been exposed to the virus is ludicrous.
Here’s an interesting blog post from last week; comments are from current/former military commanders and senior NCOs—the folks who are tasked to carry out something like the Ebola mission. To a person, they said the troops are not trained, equipped or prepared for the job they’ve been given:
http://formerspook.blogspot.com/2014/09/wrong-mission-wrong-place-wrong-time.html
(not that I think they should be sent. )
Remember when this subject first came up, they were going to be engineers and medical support types. How does the 101st enter into that equation?
I really think in this case, the CIC should be first off the plane.