100 Fort Carson soldiers return from Ebola fight in West Africa
About 100 Fort Carson Soldiers with the 615th Engineer Company, 4th Engineer Battalion, returned to the Mountain Post Thursday morning.
The soldiers were deployed in November to West Africa in support of Operation United Assistance, the U.S. military’s response to the Ebola crisis. The engineers helped construct Ebola treatment units, and helped fix infrastructure in the area.
For Pfc. Casey Rayburn, it was his first deployment and his first time out of the country.
“Seeing Third World countries and seeing the way that we live as opposed to the way they live, it definitely makes you appreciate what we have here more,” Rayburn told KRDO NewsChannel 13.
Though the soldiers did not come in contact with Ebola patients, they were placed under a precautionary 21-day quarantine at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
Approximately 50 soldiers will remain in West Africa until U.S. Africa Command has determined if the response team is needed in other regions outside of Liberia.
