On Friday October 3, 2014 Rear Admiral John Kirby at the Pentagon gave a press briefing on US military efforts to combat the deadly ebola outbreak.
Here is what he had to say in this regard:
“Just a few things before I take your questions. First, an update on Operation United Assistance in West Africa, where we have more than 230 personnel on the ground conducting operations in support of the Joint Force Command and USAID.
Over the last 36 hours, two Ebola testing laboratories manned by personnel from the U.S. Naval Medical Research Center are now fully operational. As you will recall, the equipment for these labs arrived over the weekend. These labs are capable of processing about 100 samples per day, and they’ve already processed more than 30.
In addition, we are still on track for the hospital for infected medical personnel to open on October 18th. Construction of two treatment centers for other Ebola victims will begin today and should be completed by the end of the month.
All these efforts are laying the groundwork for what will prove to be a significant increase in our troop presence and operational tempo on the ground in West Africa. We project that there could be nearly 4,000 troops deployed in support of this mission, but we’re obviously assessing the requirements on a daily basis. It may not go that high.
In addition to the 1,400 troops I announced on Tuesday, an additional 1,800 soldiers from the Army will be deployed from various installations, providing engineering, medical, civil affairs, aviation, and logistical support to this very important mission.
As we continue our support to the broader U.S. government response to the Ebola crisis, I want to emphasize that our operations remain focused on four lines of effort: command and control, logistics support, training, and engineering support.”
Source: Department of Defense
Note: There are about 1800 soldiers deployed for various locations in response to the Ebola outbreak. About 11 — from Fort Campbell, about 1,100 soldiers from the 101st Sustainment Brigade, 86th Combat Support Hospital, 44th Medical Brigade, and a military police company from Fort Carson. You’ll have about 160 soldiers from the 4th Engineer Battalion from Fort Bragg: approximately 120 soldiers who will be providing engineering and public affairs support. 10 soldiers from the 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, and Explosives Command out of Aberdeen. 100 soldiers from Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, and Fort Eustis. They’ll be doing civil affairs, combat support, combat service support assistance. And there’s several hundred as well coming from Fort Hood and Fort Bliss, again, across mostly engineering and civil affairs capabilities.
According to sources at the Pentagon the secretary of war has approved the potential deployment of up to 4,000. I think it’s actually around 3,900 at this point, in what is the largest military response to a disease outbreak in the history of the United States.
See related video: Obama Orders Military Response to Ebola http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAVk2IJDEsM
See also video: Can U.S. aid for Ebola be deployed quickly enough? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGa4W3R1YF8
See video: Ebola Virus Could Be Weaponized For Terrorism — Iwu http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Tj7CUJWkJ4
See shocking video: Ebola, what the mainstream media won’t tell you – infowars August 2014 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCQDrIeketo