Apology Beforehand

[mrenglish]

I agree with Doctorhoss. While I am not in favor of sending troops they are probably the only ones who can commit the resources and expertise to get things going quickly. They may be slow to get the infrastructure going, especially with that they have to deal with in undeveloped countries, but once that process is going, it will become a wave. Currently, they are just treating infected staff and training people how to properly handle the load Ebola is bringing. Nobody has the logistics capability of the US. Some are close but not like what we can do. Its going to take our capabilities to get ahead of the epidemic, so I think we should be doing it. Better to contain and stop it over there than have to deal with an epidemic over here.
As for ISIS, I think people are just tired of war. That attitude is changing though so I doubt it will be long before ground troops go in. But when you get down to it, its a clusterfuck. There are just no good options for the US no matter how you look at it. The Arab states need to step it up, its their neighborhood so they should be bear the brunt of the fighting. Unfortunately, due to the above points I mentioned, we will probably end up bearing the brunt of the fighting. I just do not think we should jump in without an exit strategy.
Hot Spot was a scary book. Mother nature has a way of culling the population.
Just my two cents. Not trying to get all political or raise any feathers.

 

[cobguy]

With our current "loose" policies regarding the southern border, including taking in thousands of refugees, it would be easy as pie for them to walk right in to this country from Mexico.
I read Hot Zone, Outbreak and most recently Inferno by Dan Brown ... scary stuff.

 

[cobguy]

arrrrgh ... double tap!

 

[plateauguy]

Right to the point, Bradley. I agree fully!

 

[danielplainview]

Our soldiers are trained to fight bad guys, not ebola. They say stopping flights from Liberia will increase the chances of an Ebola outbreak. John Kerry said we must leave our borders open. What fantasy land do these people live in? What happens when Ebola reaches South America and spreads like wildfire? Will they still say you are racist if you don't want hoards of Ebola carriers crossing into the country?

What is it going to take to hold our public servants accountable for their incompetence?

 

[doctorthoss]

Danielplaingiew,

As I said , some of our guys ARE trained to fight Eblola. And they should be. Not training some of them to do in this day and age is like refusing to train them to take out tanks. Diseases are a weapons system, more to the point, it really doesn't matter whether an outbreak is the result of nature or an attack. Once it starts, the effects are identical and the military is the only organization that can handle it.

Insofar as closing the borders: the only way to protect us from contagious disease is to permanently quarantine the nation. While that might be good (we could never again fight an enemy on foreign soil) to hardcore pacifists, I doubt it's practical. More to the point, that would mean shutting down completely our economy. Zero foreign trade means not an economic depression, but an apocalypse. Anything short of completely isolating ourselves would fail to stop disease transmissions. It might stop illegal aliens, but that is all. And in the end it still would not stop all disease, as some epidemics start here in the US!

Simply out, there is no way to protect ourselves compleletely from a spreading illness. Which is why the people responsible for protecting us (who have thousands of years of experience to draw on) focus on stopping epidermics as near to their source as possible. Just trying to close our borders and saying "not our problem" is, I fear, to simply invite mass death upon us. Keep in mind that the deadliest disease in human history is the flu, and the unanimous opinion of the medical community is that we will have another pandemic someday. They focus on vaccinations, treatment and short term quarantines at the local level, not shutting our borders because it not likely to help,

There has been talk about forming a multinational response team to deal with this kind of credits, but I am afraid most people just aren't interested in doing so. So we roll the dice, respond piecemeal to crises and hope for the best.

]sorry for some of the weird typos but my laptop is in the shop andmy tablet keyboard stinks lol

 

[woodsroad]

I'm with Dr. Hoss on this. The Ebola crisis gives our NBC teams a fantastic opportunity to do as they train in a non-combat setting, off US soil. There's a lot not to be liked about how the Ebola crisis has been dealt with since it first surfaced back in the mid 70's. But right now it is a national security threat, and presents a humanitarian mission for the military where they can also practice for the inevitable: A major bio incident on US soil.

 

[doctorthoss]

Rsuninv,

I disagree. As it stands now, Ebola would need to be weaponized to pose a major threat to the developed world. It simply is not contagious enough on its own to be overly dangerous. In fact, the Hot Zone pointed out that Ebola is its own worst enemy because it is crazy lethal but not transmissible via casual contact. The problem is that nature itself often causes germs to mutate over time, and every single new case increases the statistical likelihood of Ebola evolving into a new strain or even new species that can be transmitted easily. Because germs have a life/reproductive cycle measured in hours instead of decades, they evolve very quickly when existed to new environments or hosts (it's pure Darinian evolution, only on a time scale that is far faster than that seen by larger, longer-lived organmisms). Thats why it's a good idea to shut down these outbreaks at the source.

Of course, there are too many mad scientists out there with the know how to potentially alter the virus in such way as to spread like the flu. If that were to happen (or the wrong person in -

Africa is infected) then yes - all it would take is a handful of suicidal extremists with plane tickets to sing "Lights out" to civilization.

 

[cobguy]

The deaths from Ebola in Africa so far this year are tragic, but it is important

to keep a sense of proportion. There are other infectious diseases that are far deadlier.
Since the Ebola outbreak began in February, around 300,000 people have died from malaria, while tuberculosis has likely claimed over 600,000 lives. Ebola might have our attention, but it’s not even close to being the biggest problem in Africa right now. Even Lassa fever, which shares many of the symptoms of Ebola, kills many more than Ebola and frequently finds its way to the US.
For us here in N. America, the next big danger is the Influenza Virus.

This year alone, between 250,000 and 500,000 worldwide will be dead - many here in the US.
So, why all the fuss? Quick! Look over there at Africa ... there's Ebola!

Pay no attention to what's happening over here ... :roll:

 

[mrenglish]

Its also not the same strain of Ebola impacting the effected areas Africa. There have been two different strains identified in separate countries so this also has a potential impact on mutation.

 

[purplemotoman]

Amen trailboss...I agree with you 100%.

 

[woodsroad]

Heard all that on Rush yesterday too...

 

[lucky695]

Just playing with lives.

@woodsroad ... that picture is freaking awsome. Love the Calabash for the girl on the end... that is a nice touch. She is years ahead of her time. Priceless

 

[fishingandpipes]

Well that does it, I'm definitely going to stop touching poop. It just isn't safe anymore.

 

[daveinlax]

LOL! The thread title and the "sorry no politics" make me think your looking to start something. Generally people don't have to apologize beforehand if you're not looking for trouble. 8O

 

[bentmike]

Great discussion anyways. At first I was going to take cajun's side but the more I read the other's input I changed my opinion. It is an opportunity for a live-fire training exercise of sorts. I remember NBC training while I was serving in the military. That was scary stuff.

 

[tanless1]

I believe that the intent of this mission is to share the misery. Its despicable, we are in a lot of trouble.

 

[drwatson]

Doctorhoss you 100% correct. On the outside sending the Army in may seems strange, but from a security issue it is the best thing to do. My personal opinion, just nuke isis (show the world we will do it again) and then go fix ebola.

 

[woodsroad]

"My personal opinion, just nuke isis (show the world we will do it again) and then go fix ebola."
+10. The world will thank us, and we can get back to the business of building Studebakers, Norges and Howdy Doody six shooters.
...and thank you, Lucky.

 

[jeepnewbie]

Well that does it, I'm definitely going to stop touching poop. It just isn't safe anymore.

:rofl: Can't stop laughing at this one.