101st Airborne Cases Colors After Liberia Mission

101st Airborne Division cases colors, heads home after successful mission in Liberia

Photo Credit: Spc. Rashene Mincy Sgt. 1st Class Anthony Harris, platoon sergeant for 2nd Platoon, Division Signal Company, takes charge of the formation from Maj. Gen. Gary Volesky, commanding general of the Joint Forces Command - United Assistance and 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), at the end of the 101st's color casing ceremony held at the Barclay Training Center, Monrovia, Liberia, Feb. 26, 2015.

"The Joint Forces Command worked with our Armed Forces of Liberia partners in building and overseeing constructions of ETUs," Volseky said.

The command built and supported 17 ETUs throughout Liberia, facilities which allowed for a more swift isolation and treatment of Ebola patients.

Building the ETUs was Task Force Rugged, a team led by the 36th Engineer Brigade based out of Fort Hood, Texas, along with the 615th Engineer Company (Horizontal), based out of Fort Carson, Colorado. The 902nd Engineer Battalion, out of Grafenwoehr, Germany, and the 161st engineer Support Company of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, also built the facilities.

Along with construction, Task Force Rugged also improved roads critical to the transportation of equipment and personnel to the ETUs, camps and logistical focus points including airports and sea ports.

The Iron Knights cased their colors Feb. 25, and are steadily redeploying their Soldiers back to Fort Bliss.

Fort Hood Soldier Found Dead Back From Liberia

UODATE April 16, 2015
Soldier Death Feared Ebola-Related Blamed On Synthetic Pot

UPDATE from KEYE News
Jan. 13, 3 p.m. UPDATE: Fort Hood officials have released the name of the soldier who was found dead Tuesday in his off-post residence in Killeen. Officials say Spc. Kendrick Vernell Sneed, 24, whose home of record is listed as Bossier City, Louisiana, entered active-duty service in June 2009 as automated logistics specialist.

He was assigned to 62nd Engineer Company, 36th Engineer Brigade, Fort Hood, since June 2012. Officials say he had helped construct an Ebola treatment camp in Liberia and came back last week, but he was not exposed to patients. Tests had shown he didn't have Ebola. The incident remains under investigation by the Killeen Police Department.

Fort Hood soldier’s death prompts HAZMAT response
KXAN News
By Patrick Tolbert
Published: January 13, 2015

KILLEEN, Texas (KXAN) – HAZMAT crews have been called to a Killeen home after the body of a soldier who was deployed to West Africa was found Tuesday morning in Killeen.

According to KXXV-TV, the soldier’s body was found in the 3300 block of Cantabrian Drive and Fort Hood officials confirm the soldier just returned from West Africa.

Killeen Police told KXXV the cause of death is unknown and that the soldier’s body has been sent to Dallas for an autopsy.

The soldier returned from Liberia in early January. Soldiers returning from West Africa are supposed to be in quarantine for 21 days after returning to the U.S. However, Fort Hood Officials said this soldier was home on emergency leave and was “self-monitoring himself twice-a-day and report his status to medical officials.”
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Santa Joins Soldiers in Prayer in Liberia

U.S. Troops Fighting Ebola Epidemic Focus on Progress over Holidays 
Military.com
by Richard Sisk
Dec 24, 2014

Santa Claus and service members bow their heads in prayer during the Joint Forces Command – United Assistance holiday tree lighting event on Barclay Training Center in Monrovia, Liberia, Dec. 18, 2014. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Rashene Mincy

The troops have lit a Christmas tree, received a visit from Santa and even held a "Skype Hanukkah" this holiday season, but the focus for U.S. troops in Liberia during the holidays has been on maximizing the gains they've made against the deadly Ebola epidemic. "It's been a whole lot better of late," Army Lt. Col. David Bowlus, a chaplain with the 2,400 U.S. troops in Liberia, said by phone Tuesday from Monrovia, the Liberian capital.

About five new suspected cases of Ebola have been reported daily in recent weeks, Bowlus said, compared to more than 50 at the end of October. "We're at the point where Ebola is no longer hunting us, we're hunting it," said Bowlus, 43, of Pemberville, Ohio.

For Christmas Day, a Catholic chaplain will be going by helicopter to conduct services at outposts in Liberia for troops serving in Operation United Assistance, the mission led by the U.S. Agency for International Development to combat Ebola, Bowlus said.

Since all faiths are represented in the 101st Airborne Division and other units, the chaplains posted to Liberia have worked hard to accommodate all faiths. "We don't have a rabbi with us," Bowlus said. So they arranged a Hanukkah service via Skype for four Jewish soldiers with a rabbi in Missouri. read more here

Joint Base Lewis McChord Prepares to Quarantine Troops

JBLM could house about 1,000 quarantined troops ending Ebola missions
The Olympian
BY ADAM ASHTON
Staff writer
November 7, 2014

“Once they’re in, they’re in for the 21 days,”

American troops finishing overseas Ebola-response missions will be quarantined temporarily at Joint Base Lewis-McChord and four other domestic military bases, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Military service members departing from assignments in West Africa must spend 21 days in isolation under an order issued last week by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel. The quarantines are intended to keep them away from civilians during the Ebola virus’ incubation period.

JBLM could be asked to house about 1,000 military service members during quarantines, said I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Dennis Swanson.

They would be kept in empty, World War II-era barracks that JBLM had used until recently to house ROTC students during summertime exercises, Swanson said. The barracks area already is somewhat separate from other headquarters buildings and barracks.

Quarantined troops would eat their meals within the confinement area. They would not be able to leave unless they have a medical emergency.
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Joint Chiefs: Quarantine All Us Troops in Ebola Deployment

Joint Chiefs recommend quarantine for all US troops returning from West Africa
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper and Chris Carroll
Published: October 28, 2014

WASHINGTON — The military’s top brass has recommended that all American troops returning from the mission to combat Ebola in West Africa be quarantined, the Pentagon announced Tuesday.

Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel “shares the concerns by the chiefs about the safety and well-being not only of our troops but also of their families,” but has not yet made a decision about whether to approve the recommendation from the Joint Chiefs.

Hagel received the chiefs’ recommendation on Tuesday, shortly after Army leadership decided to isolate Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams and 10 other soldiers for three weeks to ensure they are not infected after spending time in Liberia, where they were participating in Operation United Assistance.

They and other soldiers arriving in Vicenza, Italy, will be allowed no physical contact with family members but will have access to telephones and the Internet, Army spokeswoman Lt. Col. Alayne Conway said.
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Soldiers Fighting Ebola Coming Home to Quarantine

Will they get hazardous pay for this?

ARMY TO QUARANTINE TROOPS WHO WERE FIGHTING EBOLA
ABC News 7 Los Angeles
Luis Martinez
October 27, 2014

The Army has decided that troops returning from deployments to Liberia should be quarantined so they can be monitored for possible exposure to the Ebola virus and a general was among the first people affected.

The order immediately affected up to a dozen soldiers who returned to their home base in Italy this weekend, including Maj. Gen. Darryl Williams, the former top U.S. commander in Liberia.

"Out of an abundance of caution the Army directed a small number of personnel, about a dozen, that recently returned to Italy to be monitored in a separate location at their home station of Vicenza," Col. Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, said today. "None of these individuals have shown any symptoms of exposure."

The Army later released a statement confirming that the decision was made by Gen. Ray Odierno, the Army chief of staff.

"The Army Chief of Staff has directed a 21-day controlled monitoring period for all redeploying soldiers returning from Operation United Assistance," the statement said. "He has done this out of caution to ensure soldiers, family members and their surrounding communities are confident that we are taking all steps necessary to protect their health."
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DoD May Deploy up to 4,000 Troops to Combat Ebola

DoD May Deploy up to 4,000 Troops to Combat Ebola
DOD News
By Jim Garamone
Defense Media Activity

FORT MEADE, Md., Oct. 3, 2014 – The Defense Department could deploy up to 4,000 service members to Liberia as part of Operation United Assistance against Ebola, Pentagon Press Secretary Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby told reporters at the Pentagon today.

There are 205 U.S. service members in Liberia today with another 26 in neighboring Senegal. All service members are supporting the lead federal agency for American participation in the crisis -- the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel “has approved the potential deployment of up to 4,000 [service members],” Kirby said. “But I want to make one thing real clear, that that’s a potential deployment. That doesn’t mean it is going to get to that number.”

Troop deployments
The U.S. Army announced the units that will deploy to the region beginning in mid-month and running through November. With the previously announced unit deployments, this will bring the total Army commitment to about 3,200 soldiers.

More than 1,800 Fort Campbell, Kentucky-based soldiers will arrive in Liberia sometime late this month. Other soldiers will deploy from the 101st Sustainment Brigade, the 86th Combat Support Hospital of the 44th Medical Brigade, and a Military Police company from the 16th Military Police Brigade.

These units will provide medical and logistic support, as well as site security, to the Joint Task Force. Soldiers will deploy from other bases as well including,
Fort Hood, Texas
Fort Carson, Colorado
Fort Bliss, Texas
Fort Bragg, North Carolina
Fort Stewart, Georgia
Fort Benning, Georgia
Fort Eustis, Virginia
Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland.
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US Army fighting Ebola in West Africa

Military Responders Help Battle Ebola Outbreak
US Department of Defense
By Terri Moon Cronk and Cheryl Pellerin
DoD News, Defense Media Activity
WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2014

Defense Department personnel are on the ground in West Africa and in U.S. laboratories fighting to control the worst outbreak in the African history of the Ebola virus, which a senior Army infectious disease doctor called a “scourge of mankind.”

Army Col. (Dr.) James Cummings, director of the Global Emerging Infections Surveillance and Response System, or GEIS, a division of the Armed Forces Health Surveillance Center, said the battle against the virus since the outbreak began in West Africa in March focuses on trying to stop disease transmission. At the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, or CDC, in Atlanta, Director Dr. Tom Frieden has announced that the health agency has raised the travel advisory to Liberia, Guinea and Sierra Leone where he said the Ebola outbreak is worsening, to Level 3 -- a warning to avoid unnecessary travel to those countries.

CDC already has disease detectives and other staff in those countries to track the epidemic, advise embassies, coordinate with the World Health Organization, or WHO, strengthen ministries of health, and improve case finding, contact tracing, infection control and health communication.

Over the next 30 days, in what Frieden described as a surge, CDC will send another 50 disease-control specialists into the three countries to help establish emergency operations centers and develop structured ways to address the outbreak.

“They will also help strengthen laboratory networks so testing for the disease can be done rapidly,” the director said.

For travelers in and out of the three West African countries, CDC experts will strengthen country capacity to monitor those who may have been exposed to Ebola, and each country in the region has committed to doing this, Frieden said.

“It's not easy to do,” he added, “but we will have experts from our division that do airport screening and try to ensure that people who shouldn't be traveling aren't traveling.”
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