Lee Erwin Reporting
lerwin@clarksvillenow.com
FORT CAMPBELL, KY. – Major General Gary Volesky, commander of the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), spoke live from Monrovia, Liberia to media at division headquarters at Fort Campbell in a video teleconference Thursday, November 13.
Around 700 soldiers from Fort Campbell have deployed to the West African nation as part of the U.S. military’s mission aimed at building care centers and training health care workers with a goal of stopping the spread of the Ebola virus.
One of the major concerns from soldier’s family members was the exposure to the Ebola virus. Before deploying, the soldiers were trained on protecting themselves from disease by using personal protection equipment which included full body suits, masks and gloves.
“I was really happy with the train-up, I think our soldiers came in pretty confidant with what they could do,” said Volesky. Volesky also said that none of the soldiers from Fort Campbell or soldiers from most other military installations are working near infected patients.
Volesky added that the soldiers are required to carry protective masks and latex gloves whenever they move outside their operating base in Liberia and the soldiers along with their protective equipment are checked on a regular basis.
Volesky said there has been a drop in reported Ebola cases over the last month. In September there were over 100 new cases of the virus each day but that number has now dropped to around 20-25 cases per day.
There are currently around 2,200 soldiers from military installations around the U.S. deployed in West Africa with that number expected to grow to about 3,000 by the end of the year. No word has been given by military officials on how long the deployment is expected to last.
Another video teleconference is scheduled for Thursday evening at 6 p.m. for family members of soldiers which can be accessed on the event page of the Fort Campbell facebook page.