Posted on Aug 2, 2014
LTC Paul Labrador
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It looks like the DoD is considering sending USAMRIID personnel to Africa to help try to contain and stop this outbreak? Is this a worthy cause or more wasted money?
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LTC Paul Labrador
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I saw this on FB and was reading through some of the comments. It was totally disheartening (and a bit disgusting) at how utterly ignorant people are about the capabilities of our military. And these people are VOTERS! Not every soldier's job involves pulling a trigger. We have the capability to help. I think it's in all of our best interests to ensure this outbreak is quelled as fast as possible and then work on a vaccine so it doesn't happen again.
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LTC Paul Labrador
LTC Paul Labrador
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Cpl Kristofer F. , somehow I don't think a lot of those respondents ever went to college....
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MAJ Deputy Director, Combat Casualty Care Research Program
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LTC Paul Labrador Outside of combat casualty care, this is what the medical research side of the military is used for. I've attended more than a few meetings in DC related to managing either a radiological or biological incident. The main issues are triage and containment. Who outside of the military is going to be able to execute a coordinated containment in a metropolitan area with a few million people? There are some hard realities with things like ebola - you have to contain because it spreads so fast and the lethality is upwards of 90%. OPSEC somewhat prevents me from going into full details, but suffice to say that this is not a new problem and we've been working this issue for a long time.
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MAJ Deputy Director, Combat Casualty Care Research Program
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Cpl Kristofer F. A vaccine for ebola would be EXTREMELY difficult. It kills too quickly. You would have to do something like the small pox vaccine and treat EVERYONE preventative. And with that said, ebola is not easy to work with and outbreaks are extremely rare (meaning little funding for aggressive research). It doesn't behave well in the lab and there are only a few labs in the world who are able to work with it given the containment issues. The outbreaks are generally short term because of the lethality - it emerges, people die, and it's over.
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SSG Pete Fleming
SSG Pete Fleming
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I think... we shouldn't send the military. Instead of wasting so much of our money and resources overseas we should look to taking care of ourselves. I am trying to start the posse comitatus debate or steal jobs from union workers but really... Our infra structure is decaying, crime is, high we are beyond debt... let some of the other 200+ countries on this planet do something and lets fix America first... I can hear people saying but... but... But what? We have sick children. We have road and bridges that need repair. We have schools that need improvement. So I don't think we should send our military.
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SGT Lead Software Developer/Software Architect
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We already have many personnel in Africa doing the more humanitarian missions. I do not see any reason that we should not send our highly-trained medical personnel to help with this as it is in line with the other aid missions we have there. This is a good opportunity for the military to show the world that we do not just "kill babies", but that we are there to help the people.
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LTC Paul Labrador
LTC Paul Labrador
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Also helps us with better understanding the disease to ensure that if it ever gets to our shores, we are better prepared to fight it....
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SGT Lead Software Developer/Software Architect
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Sir,
That is a very good point. I doubt that it will cause problems in the United States due to our higher hygiene standards, but I see it potentially impacting our military operations across the globe.
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MSG Tony Williams
MSG Tony Williams
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Agreed SGT Johnson & LTC Labrador, this would be a great opportunity to learn and train in the region.
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