'No ceiling on this': Up to 4,000 troops now designated for West African deployment

Brett T. | 6:37 PM on October 03, 2014

That’s not necessarily true; they did find one dude in a T-shirt and baseball cap to power-wash the vomit from the sidewalk outside the apartment where the Dallas Ebola patient was staying.

Hopefully America’s troops being sent to West Africa to combat the disease will be better protected, especially now that their numbers have quietly swelled to 4,000. Reuters reports:

The Pentagon said on Friday it may send nearly 4,000 troops to West Africa to support America’s response to the Ebola crisis, almost 1,000 above its previous estimate, and cautioned its projections may change further.

…

There are now 205 U.S. military personnel in Liberia and another 26 in Senegal, the Pentagon said. [Rear Admiral John] Kirby said the troops in Senegal would remain small in number, setting up an “air bridge” which could become vital in the event of evacuations.

The Army said it has already committed 3,200 forces for troop deployments. The Pentagon cautioned it may never deploy all of the nearly 4,000 forces it says may be needed but also refused to commit to any firm numbers going forward.

“I’m not going to put a floor or ceiling on this,” Kirby said.

@YahooNews 4k, the number of troops is going up and there will be more, next week will be 5k!

— Scott Lowery (@scottielowery) October 3, 2014

https://twitter.com/theOstapBender/status/518159139613446144

@thehill @kristina_wong Does Obama understand this battle doesn't need boots on the ground? It needs a medical miracle! Not in his strategy

— Latino Faith Initiative (@TwterOne) October 3, 2014

@thehill @kristina_wong These men are going to build twelve 100 bed hospitals and Ebola patients r rising at 1000 p/mo. Doesn't add up

— A. V. (@avseven135) October 3, 2014