Honestly, I think the major over-reaction is the OP.
The news article is clear: the military is training 30 people to provide direct treatment to Ebola patients inside the United States, because the Department of Health and Human Services requested the team. How do we know this? Because the article states that DoD is forming a 30 person team to provide direct treatment to Ebola patients inside the United States, and that the Department of Health and Human Services requested the team.
Whatever the OP thinks he read about aggressive quarantine and crowd control measures, it is things that the OP did not read in the article and he just made up… and then, apparently, blames the news article for not explaining what the team will do.
This “OMG what are they doing??? I barely skimmed a news article and didn’t pay that much attention, this must be worse than my wildest dreams!!” is the one over-reaction in this whole thread.
You’ll recall just a few days ago our President discussed plans for dealing with Ebola. He nominated a guy to head up the response. At no point did he mention a military response within the US.
Days later we get this Pentagon report. Yeah, it does cause concern. If we had some leadership that actually explained what was going to be done it would be helpful. The military team may be a very good idea. Why wasn’t it freely and openly brought up when our President spoke? It makes people wonder if anyone is in charge. Keeping the public informed is a critical part of administration policy.
Well you have to take into account the fact that his dad was in the military when he was a kid, so every time **aceplace **got to feeling poorly some jackbooted thug in a camo hazmat suit would come whisk him away from his game of mumblety-peg and transport him in a jeep to the nearest quarantine center where they would shine a lot of bright lights on him and stick him with a lot of needles until all of the people in the chain of command would sign off on him being fit to report back to recess. Sometimes it would take days and it was very scary. Deploying these military tactics on to civilians is just terrifying.
Given the toxic political environment anything he says will get criticized. He still needs to get in front of issues and clearly explain his administration’s plans. Many of the rumors about Ebola and what is going on are clearly from a lack of confidence in our government. It’s vital that our leader(s) lay out a clear plan for dealing with Ebola. I would have thought the Surgeon General should be taking the lead on this. Or some Czar that Obama appoints. What’s important is to create a very detailed response and explain it to the public. That would help eliminate much of the anxiety and rumors.
I’ve always had confidence in my government up until the past few years. The gridlock in Congress and lack of leadership from the White House has shaken me. I don’t think these morons could find a hard-on in a whore house. :rolleyes: Yet we’re supposed to have confidence in them dealing with a public health issue? It’s unsettling. The fact that absolutely nothing will change after the next election makes it even worse. There doesn’t seem to be any way to get these politicians working together and finding solutions for problems. All the people willing to compromise and broker deals are getting voted out.
So now you’re unhappy that this wasn’t announced sooner?
Dude, just like 12 hours ago you were making this out like it was a threat to the Republic. Now you’re saying that Obama should have done this last week. Huh?
Listening to your new concerns about this reminds me of the joke about the whiner who went to a new restaurant: “This is the worst food I have ever tasted! Plus, the portions are too small!”
I was unhappy yesterday because this came out as an unofficial Pentagon release. The Pentagon only acknowledged it after the leak.
What is so difficult in laying out a full plan? This is what we’re going to do. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. and this is why it’s required. I’m sure the Pentagon plan has been in the works for at least a few weeks. There just doesn’t seem to be any comprehensive plan. Did the White House even know what the Pentagon is doing? They’re making this stuff up day by day.
I feel a lot better after reading this thread. The Military team may be a good solution. But why did I have to get this explained here? Where are the news conferences from Washington?
You can’t have it both ways. What you call “confidence in government” the conservatives and paranoid conspiracy theory fear-junkies call “communist dictatorship overthrow.”
Some people will never be satisfied. They don’t want to be and have no intention of ever being satisfied or confident or calmed. They’re paranoia and fear junkies.
I regret the jack boot comment in the OP. That was uncalled for and I apologize. I deeply respect our men and women in uniform. They’ve served us well.
I shouldn’t let my frustration with the current situation in Washington get to me. I’m taking a break from political news for awhile. I need to focus on things I enjoy and not all this negativity.
Canada’s quick response teams (five teams, four dedicated jets, and the Canadian experimental vaccine) are up and running, with the first loading drill last Friday and the first full dry run deployment today.
Sounds like an excellent plan. Smart to have the Jets assigned to this mission and ready to use immediately.
The U.S. made no mention of support aircraft and their response time is 72 hours. Maybe we should have consulted with our Canadian friends. I think they are much better prepared.
I don’t think there is that much of a difference if the 72 hours is only a maximum but the expected response a few hours (if the US Coast Guard spill strike force is comparable).
I think you’re just looking for reasons to complain about “the government.” You don’t want “boots on the ground” because that’s scary military takeover stuff, but “jets in the air” is all cool.
When the local news talks about a car crash they don’t give a complete run down of all the physics and material science involved. Obviously we all have some general understanding of the effects from day to day life. Most of us understandably are more ignorant of things we don’t have personal experience with. Allow me to at least start you down the trail to answering some of your questions and hopefully calm your fears.
There is established law, military doctrine and interdepartment procedures to conduct DSCA (Defense Support to Civil Authorities.) Northern Command, who is forming the team, is the DoD agency tasked with providing civil support; they do DSCA. (The National Guard being different beast because they can operate under the authority of the Governor/state constitution/state laws as opposed to operating under Federal law when mobilized under Title 10). A good summary of DSCA is in the name - Support to Civil Authorities. Federal troops can be offered by the President to support a state. Federal troops can be requested by the Governor. The Governor makes the call either way in DSCA. The team we’re talking about are Federal troops with all the legal limits that imposes. If deployed to a hospital requiring assistance DSCA says they would be in a supporting role to the civil authorities. That doesn’t mean they would work for the hospital administrators; they aren’t civil authorities. They’d support civil authorities within the bounds of what they can do and do legally.
The information on how DSCA works (along with NIMS and Incident command that tie all the various state and federal agencies together) is out there. It’s not light reading for the beach but it’s also not wildly secretive. It’s certainly not going to be effectively covered in a couple of sound bites from a speech or a three minute interview on television. If you are that concerned about it, get thee to google and start reading.
