Training changes as US troops head to West Africa

http://news.yahoo.com/training-changes-us-troops-head-west-africa-183926226.html

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Forgoing combat rifles and body armor, U.S. troops preparing to fight Ebola in Liberia were instead stepping gingerly Thursday into white germ-proof suits and pulling on thick, blue rubber gloves and gas masks.

About 500 soldiers were doing three days of infectious disease training inside a concrete-floored building on Texas' sprawling Fort Hood — getting ready to join as many as 3,900 troops nationwide authorized to go to areas affected by the virus.

Army medical personnel will treat patients who have Ebola while engineers plan to build temporary medical centers. How long they'll be deployed is unclear.

"It feels a bit like the ... tire man, or a marshmallow," trainer John McGuffin joked as a group of Army soldiers tottered about in suits resembling billowy hospital gowns.

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