Snips from the DoD presser 20 Nov 2014 re Ebola

[nitpicker]

http://www.defense.gov/Transcripts/Transcript.aspx?TranscriptID=5545

Q: And then on Ebola, the -- the story in the New York Times this morning about in-fighting in the battle against Ebola included one fact that American helicopters, American military helicopters that were going into the -- out away from the capital and into the -- into the outback, were refusing to bring back patients and blood samples. And this had aroused the ire of some UN officials.

REAR ADM. KIRBY: Yeah.

Q: A, is that true? And if it is true, why? And are you going to change the policy to allow American helicopters to carry either patients or blood samples?

REAR ADM. KIRBY: I think it's important to remember what our core missions are in Liberia against the Ebola virus. And that is our unique military capabilities of command and control, engineering, training, and some logistical support. The -- the mission inside Liberia of our troops does not include direct contact with patients, handling of patients, or of the blood samples.
(snip)

So, it's not part of the mission and there's a resource allocation component to this, as well as a safety component, too. I would also tell you that, and I don't want to speak for other agencies, but I know that there has been consideration of -- of -- not by the Department of Defense, but of contracting for that kind of service, that kind of air service. And again, I think that's all being worked right now.
(snip)

Q: On Ebola -- What's going to happen after December 7th when these 10 Ebola treatment units are completed and you still have 2,500 or how many troops in -- in West Africa? What are these troops going to do? Are they going to start to draw down?

REAR ADM. KIRBY: (snip) We have to be -- that said, we have to be prepared for this to go longer than six months, which is why the secretary authorized the call-up of more than 2,000 Reserves and Guard to potentially go down there and relieve many of the troops that are in Liberia and in Senegal right now. But we just -- we just don't know.
(snip)

Q: All right, is there a point in which you'll need to have some sort of tasking or -- or is it -- is it only of couple of weeks after your target date to complete these units, and then I don't know...

REAR ADM. KIRBY: Well, from the very get-go, the -- the -- the emergency treatment units were never meant to be staffed by -- by U.S. military personnel. We were building them, constructing them, and then turning them over to -- to health care workers. That -- that will continue to -- to go on, and we've got, you know -- as you said, we've got ETU construction going on well into December before they'll all be done.
(snip)

So it is possible that some of the troops will -- that -- the requirement -- as construction gets complete, the requirement for those types of troops may decrease and General Volesky may want to make a recommendation to decrease the oversize -- overall size of his force depending on that. But there's also going to be some missions like the logistics and the training that I think will continue for some time.
(snip)