URGENT - Ebola US Military Quick Strike Team

a reply to: projectvxn
I agree that the NBC training you get in basic it's little more than learning to put on and perform basic tasks while in MOPP4, but how many hours of doing anything in a MOPP4/BLE 4 level suit does your average civilian nurse have?
However, once i got to a line combat arms battalion, they built on that training from basic. Chemical defense training is to protect you from agents that can kill in closer to twenty one seconds as opposed to twenty once days.( I'm thinking persistent nerve agent like TGB here). When i was in, we trained in conducting at least a hasty decon supervised by the battalion chemical section every field problem which for a company sized element took 3+ hours from time of being slimed to decon completion.
During the major FTXs and NTC we would conduct a full decon of a battalion supervised and led by the division chemical battalion. I feel like someone who has done several MOPP gear exchanges as part of training in a military environment would need less additional training than a civilian nurse who worked in full ppe once or twice during school and takes a couple of hours training by watching a video every year.

a reply to: zachi


For a serious situation like this they wouldn't send a private fresh out of AIT.

The lowest ranking person there will likely be a high speed Specialist with some real world experience and at least one deployment under his/her belt.

The Army trains all the time, every hour of every day. Every unit trains their specialties on a regular basis. I didn't stop working on aircraft when I got back from Afghanistan, didn't stop my 350-1 training requirements either. Hell while I was deployed we did training missions all the time.

We take every opportunity to train to meet or exceed standards. For serious situations like these the most experienced of the least ranking will go. Sometimes that means no one lower than an E5 Sgt, or an O2 1LT.

a reply to: jefwane

True. But let's face it. When it comes to what is more likely CBRNE training is going to fall by the wayside.

Last rotation I did at NTC not one time did I pull my pro mask out.

a reply to: projectvxn
It may be the time period i served and what unit i served in that had me thinking military NBC training is so high speed. I was in the 24th that reflagged into 3rd ID from 95-98 and then 48th infantry brigade in Georgia national guard from 99-04. NBC training was to be mandatorilly included into all FTXs and sergeants time while i was at Stewart. The guard unit i was in was not as proficient in it as active but wasn't totally fubar either.

a reply to: jefwane

I've done some pretty intensive CBRNE training but it was only because the CG got directly involved. Otherwise it wouldn't have happened at all.

Not a lot of aviation units train for it. Which is stupid considering what we would have to do to our aircraft if they ever flew in a CBRNE environment.

Also...Sgt's time training happens seldom if ever anymore.

Used to be on thursdays...But that was replaced with command meetings where officers dictate all the training and don't let NCOs do their jobs.

a reply to: projectvxn

Forgive me if looking good doesn't ease my discomfort, it also completely ignores my point.

If said unit deploys, no matter where in the US they go, there will already be troops there to assist them yes?

So the fact they don't mention soldiers is irrelevant, we have plenty.

originally posted by: Thorneblood
a reply to: projectvxn

Forgive me if looking good doesn't ease my discomfort, it also completely ignores my point.

If said unit deploys, no matter where in the US they go, there will already be troops there to assist them yes?

So the fact they don't mention soldiers is irrelevant, we have plenty.

But not every unit is same. Different units have different tasks.

This is a specialized medical unit. They are soldiers in the sense that they are in the Army. Just because there may be soldiers of the National Guard or some active duty soldiers in a particular state, doesn't mean that it is equipped and staffed the same way that Fort Sam Houston is.

It may be possible that no units will be there that CAN help them set up.

a reply to: projectvxn

I understand that, but in this situation the strike team and the professionals in charge would essentially be running the show on the ground in whatever area they are deployed to right?

So while they are deployed, if they need to use the soldiers for crowd control/forced quarantines or medical checkpoints then they will most likely have that authority. Won't they?

a reply to: Thorneblood

I understand that, but in this situation the strike team and the professionals in charge would essentially be running the show on the ground in whatever area they are deployed to right?

No. In this instance they are subordinated to civilian authority as is the case, by law, with all domestic deployments. The only exception to that is invasion or insurrection.

So while they are deployed, if they need to use the soldiers for crowd control/forced quarantines or medical checkpoints then they will most likely have that authority. Won't they?

It's not that serious of a situation. Ebola is not that contagious. But it does need to be cordoned off and affected areas cleaned properly. Furthermore infected persons will have to be quarantined in accordance with CDC regulations, federal, state, and local laws.

This unit will not be able to perform those duties. Likely those duties would fall to the states national guard in the event that such a situation did arise where the threat of infection was widespread enough. Like a weaponized version of some pathogen. We are no where near that.

Here is an interesting quote from a CNN report on this team:

There are hopeful signs that some of the Ebola contagion scare in the United States could be winding down. Of the four patients being treated, at least two appear to be making a recovery.

Sooooo........if things are winding down in the Ebola world, of which the lamestream media and gov't is trying to convince us, why bother to deploy this special team?

I don't buy it. Something doesn't smell right in Denmark if you know what I mean.

www.cnn.com...

a reply to: dianajune

This team has not been deployed. It won't be deployed unless it is requested.

It's orders to be deployed will expire in 28 days.

a reply to: projectvxn

The U.S. regular military are not supposed to deploy on domestic soil for domestic reasons...period. The national guard is to be directed by the separate state governors unless the president is able to convince congress to agree there is a national level emergency that allows him authority over the national guard at a federal level.

That's period. That's how the laws read. That's how it should be enforced. Stop minimalizing this.

a reply to: Valhall

The U.S. regular military are not supposed to deploy on domestic soil for domestic reasons...period.

Not true and has never been true.

The national guard is to be directed by the separate state governors unless the president is able to convince congress to agree there is a national level emergency that allows him authority over the national guard at a federal level.

This just shows the level of ignorance people have about the role of the military and the authority over it.

If the POTUS declares an emergency big enough to use the National Guard in Federal service, those troops become Federal Troops. This is something people don't seem to understand.

Every National Guard unit deployed to Afghanistan, for instance, is not under their respective states' Chain of Command. They are under the control of US Army Centcom, and whatever RC they fall under when they get in country. that means their orders come directly from the POTUS at the top of the chain.

That's period. That's how the laws read. That's how it should be enforced. Stop minimalizing this.

No it isn't. I'm not minimizing anything. I'm explaining how things ARE, not how you THINK they are.

originally posted by: projectvxn
a reply to: Valhall

The national guard is to be directed by the separate state governors unless the president is able to convince congress to agree there is a national level emergency that allows him authority over the national guard at a federal level.

This just shows the level of ignorance people have about the role of the military and the authority over it.

If the POTUS declares an emergency big enough to use the National Guard in Federal service, those troops become Federal Troops. This is something people don't seem to understand.

Every National Guard unit deployed to Afghanistan, for instance, is not under their respective states' Chain of Command. They are under the control of US Army Centcom, and whatever RC they fall under when they get in country. that means their orders come directly from the POTUS at the top of the chain.

You just quoted me and then argued exactly what I said. Neat trick! I guess that makes us in violent agreement.

Further to that, the president, alone, cannot declare a national emergency. It takes Congress allowing him to do so. It appears that a HUGE sector of the US (including you and the president) have forgotten that. Further to that, if Congress so allowed him to declare a national emergency that called the National Guard to a federal level even THEY (the NG), a military arm that IS designated to act on domestic soil, can only be used at a national level for a limited number of things DOMESTICALLY.

We're not talking about wars in other countries. We're talking about activation of troops to perform any duty on DOMESTIC SOIL. That's different. The president can't usurp the governors' powers to control their national guard at the state level UNLESS the state-level representative branch of the federal government (that would be CONGRESS) says he may do so.

But we're not talking about National Guard so nice obfuscation. We're talking about REGULAR Army troops being deployed within the CONUS. That is NOT okay. ESPECIALLY without approval from Congress.

a reply to: Valhall

Please cite where it says that regular army cannot act in this case.

Please cite exactly where it says they have not been authorized by congress.

originally posted by: projectvxn
a reply to: Valhall

Please cite where it says that regular army cannot act in this case.

Please cite exactly where it says they have not been authorized by congress.

I can't cite a void. Seriously. Where exactly do you expect me to pull out the nonexistent congressional approval...my backside? What an utterly stupid request.

a reply to: Valhall

First of all, calm the hell down.

Secondly, there are sources you could cite if you bothered to look. But since you're so intent on being combative, I will leave you to your ignorance.

NORAD deploys regulary over domestic soil. Then there's USNORTHCOM, which I believe is homeland defense, yo.

a reply to: projectvxn


Here's the link to the congressional approval for the president to take the current action he has signed.

[ link] . . . [ / link]

No combative intended. When you ask a stupid unanswerable question you get...no real answer. There is no current congressional approval for the President to issue regular military into action as a jump-team for combatting Ebola.

Now...you provide evidence there is. Because of there isn't one (which there's not), then he can't legally do this.

a reply to: gatorboi117

The wording strikes me as odd, why over the next month? Also, can anyone find any other links to this? I found only the one in the OP.