# Hypothetical: You're in the military and are being sent to help with the Ebola crisis **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2014, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988 "2014-10-10T19:07:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/21 "2014-10-11T00:07:31Z")
I’m a soldier. I’m supposed to kill people and blow shit up. Are they gonna let me do that? ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/22 "2014-10-11T00:09:24Z")
I couldn’t think of any place if rather be. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/23 "2014-10-11T00:17:08Z")
I was in the Navy, and I’d go with no problem. I think I’d get a lot of satisfaction out of such work, as difficult as it would be. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2014, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/24 "2014-10-11T01:00:31Z")
I was USNR (Seabees CAN DO!) for six years and apart from my annual AT, never saw active service. But part of joining up was an implicit agreement that I’d deploy when required, never mind the risk or threat level. So of course I would go. And I’d heap scorn and derision on enlisted military who wussed out on such a deployment, too. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/25 "2014-10-15T17:44:50Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I’m not **Skald** , so I’m not going to do a big story. This presupposes you’d join the military. The facts are these: you’re in the military and your unit is called upon to go to Africa and help with the Ebola containment effort. What do you do? > > StG Of course I’d go. We’re talking about the military here, and you’ve joined voluntarily. You follow orders unless they are clearly immoral or illegal. And joining the military means that I’ve agreed that from time to time the government will send me places where people will try to kill me. How is Liberia substantially different from Afghanistan in this regard? In fact it might be better, since going to Afghanistan might well involve trying to kill other people, whereas the Liberia mission is more benevolent. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/26 "2014-10-15T19:50:13Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I am a soldier and I have been given a legitimate order by my legitimate superior. I have only one option. I haven’t ever served in the military, but I’ve always understood the point of military discipline to be to get people to go into life-threatening situations and keep their wits about them and continue to follow orders. Seems like just the ticket in many ways for getting an organized and effective response to a deadly disease. And really… they probably have a higher chance of being killed or wounded in Afghanistan than they do of getting Ebola and dying in Liberia. ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/27 "2014-10-15T20:01:26Z")
-Ask not to be put in that position, but I’ll go if there’s no option -I go AWOL and take my chances with military justice rather than ebola -I fake getting sick before my unit ships out and avoid the whole thing Either you were never in the military or you suffered a traumatic brain injury (the “ask not to be put in that position” left me giggling, and I needed that, so thank you). To be sure, if you’re an officer of decent rank (say O-5 or better), you can decline a new duty station/assignment but best do so only if prepared to put in for retirement (even if a year out) when “ask[ing]” to stay put. ---
**Author:** ![Fallen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e99b99/32.png) [@Fallen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fallen)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/28 "2014-10-15T20:04:39Z")
“I might hope that someone helps me out with a quick death if I start showing symptoms though.” You should probably tell someone that if you’re diagnosed with a given cancer or other disease where you have a 50/50 chance of dying, you want someone to put a bullet in your brain pan. (I suspect anyone who vows to so do will chicken out when the time comes, so be prepared to make it a DIY project.) ---
**Author:** ![TheSeaOtter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed655f/32.png) [@TheSeaOtter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheSeaOtter)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/29 "2014-10-15T20:53:31Z")
Being a soldier involves the implicit understanding that you go do dangerous, uncomfortable stuff because you’re told to. At least this assignment involves helping people. And honestly, soldiers get NBC protective gear, and have actually been drilled in its use, which is more than most other people there would be able to say. Now, if it turns out that my superiors have decided to ‘contain’ the outbreak by shooting anyone who might be infected like some sort of stupid movie, I’d have to look up the procedure for refusing a blatantly illegal and immoral order, but that’s another question entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/30 "2014-10-15T21:25:38Z")
I am in the military. I would go. ---
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/31 "2014-10-15T21:33:01Z")
Of course I’d go. I wouldn’t want to, I’d bitch about it to my wife, but I’d go. Don’t really have a choice. If they offered me a chance to stay gone while everyone else went, I’d still go. As I said, I don’t really have a choice. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2014, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/32 "2014-10-15T22:26:48Z")
It will basically just come down to another deployment to a shitty place. The military will likely be confined to their encampments and have no contact with anybody who’s a risk. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Kobayashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Mr.Kobayashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Kobayashi)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/33 "2014-10-16T11:56:49Z")
Thought this was an interesting basis on which to establish a [hypothetical](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=737489) on a quarantine, from both civvie and military viewpoints based on comments from **TheSeaOtter** and **Velocity**. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2014, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988/34 "2014-10-16T13:22:34Z")
[QUOTE=jsgoddess] I go to Africa and help with the ebola containment effort. [/QUOTE] This. Because > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > And joining the military means that I’ve agreed that from time to time the government will send me places where people will try to kill me. This. My son was a medic in Iraq. People tried to kill him (and did kill his best friend). I don’t see a difference between “terrorists might kill me” vs. “Ebola might kill me”. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hypothetical-youre-in-the-military-and-are-being-sent-to-help-with-the-ebola-crisis/700988.md?page=1)