MOBILITY

AMC’s ROLE
in the
WAR ON
EBOLA
By MR. MONTE NACE, Staff Writer
Our world has always
been a scary place when
it comes to contagious
diseases. For example,
a devastating plague that some researchers
believe was typhoid fever
wiped out one-third of the population
of Athens, Greece, in 430 BC.
It also killed thousands of soldiers
during the Civil War and Spanish-
American War.
Today, with international travel
commonplace—and diseases and
“superbugs” making headlines regularly—government
leaders, scientists
and medical professionals are always
alert to the possibility of a worldwide
epidemic.
The good news is that the Department
of Defense has a new tool for
potential use during future outbreaks
of infectious diseases, thanks
to some quick action involving U.S.
Transportation Command (US-
TRANSCOM) and AMC. This new
capability, the Transport Isolation
System (TIS), provides DoD the ability
to evacuate multiple patients affected
by highly contagious diseases
to definitive care.
According to current DoD policy,
American forces who contract an
infectious disease will be treated in
place. However, the extremely limited
host nation medical capability available
in Liberia and Monrovia created
a challenge in Operation UNITED AS-
SISTANCE, especially considering the
large number of U.S. forces forward
deployed. Further complicating the
situation, the potential to move large
numbers of patients in support of this
operation was limited to a commercial
carrier that could only move one
patient at a time.
USTRANSCOM, along with AMC,
formed a working group and took
up the challenge to develop the capability
to move groups of infectious
patients aboard military aircraft.
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The Mobility Forum