News
Hagel calls up 2,100 from reserve, National Guard for Ebola fight
Stars and Stripes
November 14, 2014
Tech. Sgt. Jarrod Blanford, a Kentucky Air National Guard aerial porter, directs the loading of a pallet of humanitarian cargo at Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014. The cargo will be delivered to Monrovia, Liberia, to help contain the Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa. (Dale Greer/U.S. Air National Guard)
WASHINGTON — Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel has authorized the mobilization of about 2,100 troops from the Army Reserve and National Guard to deploy to Africa to aid in relief efforts to stem the Ebola outbreak.
Army officials were in the process of notifying soldiers and their families Friday, according to Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman. Hagel signed the authorization Thursday night.
The troops, who will replace forces in Liberia and Senegal as part of Operation United Assistance, will receive training in Ebola prevention and medical readiness before deploying.
Some 2,200 U.S. troops are now deployed to Liberia to help build treatment facilities, train health-care workers and provide testing services to identify those who are infected.
About 80 U.S. troops who returned Thursday from Africa will be quarantined for 21 days at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Virginia. None was exhibiting symptoms of the deadly virus.
The World Health Organization reported this week that Ebola has killed more than 5,000 people in Africa and sickened an additional 14,000.
However, the number of new Ebola patients in one hard-hit county in Liberia has fallen almost to zero because of protocols taken by the aid group Doctors Without Borders, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report released Friday, according to the Washington Post.
The measures, aimed at reducing fear associated with the disease, have been so effective, they could serve "as a model to implement in other affected areas to accelerate control of Ebola," the CDC said.