US troops fighting Ebola peak at 2,900

[nitpicker]

http://thehill.com/policy/defense/225924-us-troops-fighting-ebola-peaks-at-2900

US troops fighting Ebola peak at 2,900
By Sarah Ferris - 12/03/14 05:29 PM EST

The leader of the U.S. Africa Command said Wednesday that the number of U.S. troops helping to fight Ebola has likely peaked at 2,900.

Gen. David Rodriguez told reporters that the biggest components of the military’s role in West Africa — logistics support and treatment center construction — will start to “trail off” next month. “The major efforts will end in Liberia in December and January,” he said in a briefing, adding that officials will reconsider the strategy at that time.

The U.S. also downsized its mission in Liberia, one of the countries most affected by Ebola, though the rate of transmission has recently slowed. Troops will help build 10 treatment centers in Liberia instead of the 17 previously planned, Rodriguez said.

President Obama first announced in September that the military would be assisting with the fight against Ebola with as many as 4,000 troops. That number was later revised downward, though infection rates remained high in West Africa.
(snip)

Sophie Delaunay, head of Doctors Without Borders' U.S. branch, told The Hill on Wednesday that the armed forces' role in West Africa has been “insufficient," leaving too much of the work to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). “We did very much welcome the military in this environment,” Delaunay said. “But from the very beginning, we were critical of the fact that the job of the military would only be building the centers and leaving NGOs to actually run them.”

[nitpicker]

1. Snips from the DoD presser 3 Dec 2014 re Ebola

http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=5548

Department of Defense Press Briefing by Gen. Rodriguez in the Pentagon Briefing Room on Ebola Response
Presenter: U.S. Africa Command Commander General David M. Rodriguez
December 03, 2014

GENERAL DAVID RODRIGUEZ: Good afternoon, everyone. I'm glad to have the opportunity to talk with you again on how the U.S. Africa Command is supporting the Ebola response in West Africa.
(snip)

Q: Can you give us a sense of about the scale in terms of the number of people involved? How many troops are there today? And where could you get to at a potential peak down the line here?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: Yeah, there's about 2,900 folks there today. That will probably be the peak. And the majority of the big engineering and logistic things in Liberia will probably, start to tail off in the end of the year January. That's when we'll, you know, again, start to send some of those people home. And most of that is about the logistics and the engineering.
(snip)

Q: And do you still foresee going to 17 treatment units, treatment centers?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No. Right now, they're asking for less. Again, as we have come in and done this, they have adapted the sizes, so many of them are now only 50 instead of 100, and we're down to building 10 units, instead of 17 right now.
(snip)

Q: General, can you clarify? You said that you've gone now from 17 to 10. Are those 100 beds or 50 beds?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: The first three were 100 beds, and the next seven, the last seven will be 50 beds.
(snip)

Q: General, I want to clarify, when you say that it might be -- the overall duration of the mission might turn out to be less than a year. Are you saying that basically this summer the military mission in Liberia may wrap up?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: This coming summer you mean, yes. Yeah, it could be, yes. But, again, we're in a good position now. The trend lines are all moving in the right direction. And if that continues, as well as the international community's ability to pick up many of the missions, and the Liberian, you know, health system as it continues to rebuild itself and everything, yes.

Q: And can I -- just to follow up, so basically over the past two months, we're looking at fewer troops than initially discussed, which is the 4,000.

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: It was up to 4,000. And, again, as we moved in there now, you've got to understand, the situational understanding everybody had was not nearly as clear as it is now. And every day we get better at that, the whole international community effort to gain that situational understanding.

So as you know, we originally said somewhere around 3,000, could be up to 4,000. It ended up being, as I mentioned, about 2,900, and we'll continue to watch that carefully, as USAID tries to manage the effort across the entire region.

Q: Is it fair to say that as that situational understanding has grown, that this has proven to be a more manageable, less risky mission than you initially thought a few months ago?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No, I don't think so. It was just really about the speed with which the international community could pick the things up that they were able to do. And what we were doing is really getting in there to help with the unique capabilities, with the speed and the ability to build stuff in places that are, you know, not in easy to get at, easily accessible areas, and then to get the logistics support out there to sustain those efforts. Okay?

And the same with the training. You know, when we went in to conduct the training, the training was conducted by many of the international organizations, and they were able to move out into the Ebola treatment units in those places, as we picked up the training. So it's just based on the situation, you know, how we're going to adjust over time and everything.
(snip)

Q: And the second point is, much earlier, I mean, we're talking about not needing the full complement of troops for Liberia, you said they might be redirected elsewhere. Are you implying that they might be sent to Sierra Leone?

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: Yes, it's in the region. When we got the mission originally, it was to support the USAID in Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia, focus on Liberia first, see how it goes with the rest of the thing, and respond to USAID's efforts wherever they see fit.

Q: And are you seeing similar numbers of American troops in Sierra Leone or...

GEN. RODRIGUEZ: No, I think that would all be less than that 2,900 right now, because, again, the major efforts in Liberia for the military will end here in December, January, as far as the huge logistics piece and the engineering piece, which is taking most of the people.
(snip)