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This presentation wasn't so much about the epidemic as a whole, but rather, what are the policies, procedures, and preparations being done in our hospital, specifically. Of course, prepping for that specific scenario is a huge part of that, and they really don't have any answers.

And that's the crux of the problem--no one has any answers. That's why I think a visa lockdown and tight controls on anyone with a travel history in Guinnea, SL and/or Liberia, as well as those who have treated Ebola patients, is the only logical way to prevent community transmission anywhere in the world, not just in the US.

All the media should use that as their mantra, rather than simply regurgitating the words they hear from CDC without giving them any thought. But of course, we are talking about the MSM. So all hope for serious thought going into their questions and reporting is misplaced.

Very true. I don't know about any other university but where I attended, the two majors with the highest population of idiots were journalism and education. I'm not certain why that was/is but I saw it firsthand. I'm willing to bet the vast majority of reporters have no idea what differentiates a virus from a bacteria from a fungus. Perhaps expecting them to ask intelligent questions about Ebola is expecting far too much.

I've never been in the military, so it's easy for me to say, but I wonder when some of these commanders are going to come to the conclusion that it's time to disobey an order or two. All behind the scenes, of course.

I've not been in the military but every male in my family on both sides, including my grandfathers, father (2 tours in Viet Nam as a Medevac crew chief) brother (18 years as a helicopter pilot) and my eldest son (6 years as a Navy Corpsman) have. There is always some grumbling in the ranks about this or that, but I cannot recall anything like this. Even my dad says the degree of unrest among the enlisted is unlike anything he saw in Viet Nam. The offense against the military perpetrated by the civilian command structure will have to be quite extreme to push them to that sort of action. It's something I hope and pray I never see in my lifetime.

And I sure hope the peer pressure is huge for those soldiers not to fraternize AT ALL with any residents of the countries where they're deployed.

Oh I'm sure they will be pressured by the high brass to fraternize extensively with locals and to Hades with the consequences. I saw a news story a few days ago in which the CO of the 101st mentioned that the troops will be working "side by side" with the Liberian army. That isn't going to end well for the E3s who happen to have incubating Liberians at their "sides."

The complete lack of seriousness, in fact the nonchalance, being displayed by the feds and the upper brass in the face of a Level 4 pathogen is creating mistrust among those who are being forced to work in Liberia. There's always been healthy skepticism among the enlisted toward the upper brass (the officer ranks are heavily populated with politically-oriented people whose first concern is their next promotion and who fail to even consider the staff sergeant's POV) but this is the first I've ever heard of enlisted men believing they are being thrown out to do "battle" against a purely medical/biological threat for nothing more than short-term politics. Even in Somalia, a veneer of humanitarianism was readily found. "Battling" Ebola in a third-world cesspool is an entirely different matter.

How does that old oriental curse go? "May you live in interesting times"?