As the first American troops begin their battle against Ebola in West Africa, a number of current and former service members are expressing grave misgivings about the mission.  In From the Cold solicited the thoughts of several commanders and senior enlisted leaders, both active duty and retired.

Virtually all of them voiced concerns about sending troops into countries like Liberia, where the deadly disease has already claimed hundreds of lives.  Many of those contacted said they were worried about military personnel working near the so-called “hot zone” without proper training, preparation and equipment. Their comments are listed below; all requested anonymity because of their active-duty status, or current employment as a civil service or defense contractor.
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– We weren’t trained for such an environment….just not sure this is the right thing to do.   However military personnel have been involved with humanitarian missions before and will in the future.  Sanitation….sanitation…sanitation.  How do you really prepare for this mission?    I pray for the safety of our airmen! 
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– I don’t believe we have ever had the Military Deploy in such an environment.  It would appear the Surgeon General’s Office should take the LEAD on this MISSION and form a TEAM from the highly qualified Public Health Service Corps and Related Organizations in our Nation’s Medical Field.  How about the WHO and CDC helping with this Nightmare?
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–I personally do not think there is enough time to spin up our troops to a necessary level of protection.  Look at the professionals who have trained many years and are still infected.  I do not think there is a miracle “gg” shot that will protect.  My take, keep them out!
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– My naivety leads me to believe, hope, pray that the troops will get advance training prior to deployment.  If it were only  100 troops i’d know they were Sierra Hotel, the cream of the crop,  and know for certain they were trained and equipped to meet the exigency.  But 3000, I gotta say I think from experience there will be a lot of back-fills for the late, lame and lazy not to mention the down right scared.  All the hyperbole in the movies and media doesn’t help — hell our government doesn’t help when they acknowledge they have contingency plans for a “Zombie Apocalypse”.   But professionals have been fighting this epidemic for a long time and yes , there has been causalities but not to the extant that we should teeter on whether as soldiers we should not follow orders.  You know I am not a fan of the Obama in general and especially political generals but I still have faith we have some very solid O-6’s who will do the right thing mission-wise.  Sorry but some of those same O-6’s cross lines that set you and yours off from time to time — but we do not have enough choir boys to fill every billet. Sometimes it takes a risk-taker to stand up and take the risk of saying — “hell no we won’t go”  without proper training, equipment and security.  
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– It’s a one way ticket.  From my perspective SF gets zero training in how to handle people in this type of environment.  They are not physically or mentally prepared for this.  I remember before deploying to Romania in 2003 where AIDS is prevalent I asked for boxes of surgical gloves and CPR masks.  People could not get it in their heads there was the potential of a silent killer and unfortunately today we are no better off.  Remember; time, distance, and shielding was the only answer we use to get for an NBC attack.  I cannot imagine what it would be like to work in this environment and I am sure as hell glad I am not one of those poor souls going.  Again, it’s a one way ticket.

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