Derek 2.0

Like ID specialists? Like the professionals, already there from PHAC?

How many medical professionals have been infected to date?

I'm not a healthcare professional, my wife is though (and has worked with MSF, prior to formation of dentists without borders), but like Army Guy have received rudimentary training for such environments, well understanding what our Forces can and can not do……

Exactly......I see no benefit, but lots of risk, in sending the CF to contend with something they are not prepared for.

No they're not........myself and Army Guy are not making this stuff up as we go along

Far less then other viruses.........thats not to say we shouldn't help, but like the reductions in HIV/AIDS in Africa, such aide was rendered through government and non-government professionals......not the military.

On the inverse, for obvious reasons, healthcare workers are the most at risk to contract Ebola…….You wish to place our men and women in uniform in an environment that they are not trained to operate, and risk exposing them to a virus with a very high mortality rate…….

How many Canadians have been infected with Ebola versus HIV/AIDS?

Exactly, there is a big difference between providing primary care in a disaster zone, and working in a quarantine environment……

Indeed, and context is needed.....several thousand Africans have died from Ebola, how many 100s of thousands die each year in sub-Saharan Africa from HIV/AIDS? Yet no calls to send in the army.

I'm not playing any games........I feel sending members of the Canadian Forces overseas to contend with Ebola, when they’re not trained nor equipped to do so, is wanton negligence, to say nothing of a misdirection of resources……..the millions that would be spent to deploy DART would be far better directed to groups like MSF and/or the Red Cross, that are already there and employ professionals that are trained and practice medicine in such fields.

The American army also fields renowned experts in the field of infectious disease. Why not? Canadian healthcare professionals go overseas to provide treatment and care all the time……there are already Canadians in Africa doing such work.

How many health professionals have been infected already? Military duty does come with risk, but leadership ( both civilian and military) attempt to mitigate it as much as possible........and "send them in"? They have not been requested, nor offered, by any of the nations in the region.

What steps? Also, what is the effectiveness of a person operating inside of “plastic suit”, in a humid tropical region, after several hours, let alone days, weeks months etc? I haven’t partook in NBC training for over 30 years…..fortunately most potential biological ailments our Forces are trained to contend with can be inoculated against or treated……..Ebola sounds far more problematic.

So you now wish to provide security, that the various Governments haven't requested, in a plague ravaged, backwards region........ No organized medical group? What does our Federal Government employ currently via the PHAC?

Which numbers? Numbers requested by the GAO?

Interaction with a populace with a lethal and not easily treatable virus……..I trust you’ll be volunteering with an NGO….a great many are looking for folks to canvass door-to-door in search of infected locals.

As I said, such data can't be determined reliably until we have the end product……….estimates made prior are just that......estimates that haven't scared off any end users to date.

The harmful situations that we send them into, to the best of our ability, we have trained and prepared them with the tools required for both success of the mission and their safe return…….With the current situation, the Canadian Forces do not have the proper training or tools to operate safely in a highly contagious, epidemic environment……….there are far more Canadian, civilian medical professionals able to lend aide…….. Ponder this, when we have outbreaks within our own borders (H1n1, SARS, the flu etc) the responders are from within the various Canadian healthcare services, not the army…..why should that be any different with West African Ebola?

Exactly, coupled vaccine research/production from the national laboratory in Winnipeg.

Bury what? A report based on old data?

But if as claimed, the F-35 was a lemon, said partners could focus their resources in another direction no? I mean, of all the partners, at some point in their collective histories, they have pulled away from prior procurement programs that failed to bear fruit…….ie the Arrow, A-12 Avenger, XB-70, TSR-2 etc…

Not quite: and If Canada were to expand its current levels of assistance, there would be far more effective civilian resources to employ.

A go-to that you appear to have problems addressing...........one would think, if the sky was indeed falling, the program would have been cancelled already...

How many epidemiologists are employed by DND?