At the height of the epidemic, there were 2,800 DoD personnel deployed to West Africa under Operation United Assistance. The majority of DoD personnel in West Africa will now return home.
Today, around 1,500 of them are already back to their duty stations and nearly all will return by April 30.
All service personnel have or will undergo established controlled monitoring procedures.
Over the past several months, the Department of Defense delivered critical life-saving resources, constructed Ebola Treatment Units, trained hundreds of local and international healthcare workers, and provided logistical support to humanitarian and public health workers who provided care throughout West Africa.
“Secretary Hagel is grateful to the men and women of the U.S. military and their families who supported Operation United Assistance,” stated the Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby. “Their swift response demonstrates the need to maintain readiness, capacity, and capabilities to respond to the diverse array of challenges facing the United States and our partners.”
To support the 10,000 civilian responders that remain on the ground in West Africa, the Department of Defense will leave behind some assets that can help health workers stem potential outbreaks in the future.
In addition, DoD will identify 100 personnel who will maintain a continued presence in the region working to strengthen the disease preparedness and surveillance capacity of the national governments.
Editor recommends:
- The U.S. Helped Beat Back Ebola — Only Not In the Way You Might Think (NPR)
- DoD Announces New Capability to Transport Infectious Patients (Global Biodefense)
- Ebola Fight Shifts from Military to Civilian Effort (USA Today)
- MRIGlobal to Deploy Mobile Labs to Sierra Leone (Global Biodefense)
- Most Troops, DOD Civilians to Return from Ebola Zones in Africa (Stars & Stripes)
