U.S. Army beginning increased virus screening for new recruits
The U.S. Army on March 3 began increased health screenings for all new soldier recruits arriving at the four basic training centers around the country in order to detect the new coronavirus, a senior commander said.
Army Gen. Paul Funk, head of the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command, said personnel at the bases spent Monday rehearsing the new screening and learning how to spot symptoms and interview recruits. The enhanced screening will affect as many at 1,000 recruits a week for the Army’s active duty, National Guard and Reserve for the near future. That number will grow later this spring and summer as the number of new soldiers entering the service increases.
“We’re using prudent measures to ensure we are screening,” Funk told a small groups of reporters at the Pentagon.
Under the new process, recruits will be asked a series of questions, including whether they have been to various parts of Asia, if they’ve been in contact with anyone who has the virus and whether they have had any of the symptoms, such as coughing, sore throat, stomach problems and muscle aches. They also will have their temperature taken.
If the soldiers say no to all the questions and don’t have a temperature higher than 99.4 degrees, they will be allowed to move enter basic training.
If they say yes, exhibit symptoms or have a fever, medical personnel will separate them from the others and move them to heath care facilities on the bases. The four training bases are Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Sill, Okla.; Fort Jackson, S.C., and Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.
The Marine Corps said it has done some of the same things out of an abundance of caution to preserve the wellness of the force. According to Marine Capt. Christopher Harrison, preliminary screenings have been implemented for incoming recruits at the Marine Corps recruit depots. The Navy said there have been no changes to its screening process yet, and the Air Force had no information on any changes.
So far, no Army recruits have tested positive for coronavirus. AP
U.S. strikes Taliban forces, in first hit since peace deal
The U.S. conducted March 4 its first airstrike against Taliban forces in Afghanistan, a military spokesman said, days after signing an ambitious peace deal with the militant group in the Mideastern state of Qatar.
U.S. military spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett said in a tweet that the “defensive” strike was the first U.S. attack against the militants in 11 days. He said the attack was to counter a Taliban assault on Afghan government forces in Nahr-e Saraj in the southern Helmand province.
Leggett added that Taliban forces had conducted 43 attacks on Afghan troops on Tuesday in Helmand.
Leggett called on the Taliban to stop the attacks and uphold their commitments based on the agreement signed on Feb. 29 between their leaders and U.S. peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Doha, Qatar, which lays out a conditions-based path to the withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.
President Donald Trump confirmed March 3 that he spoke on the phone to a Taliban leader, making him the first U.S. president believed to have ever spoken directly with the militant group responsible for the deaths of thousands of U.S. troops in nearly 19 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
The Afghan Defense Ministry said in another statement on March 4 that a Taliban attack on a checkpoint in northern Kunduz province had killed seven of its soldiers.
The statement said that 10 Taliban fighters were killed in the shoot-out.
The Taliban have not claimed responsibility for any of these attacks so far or commented on the U.S. airstrike Wednesday.
However, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told The Associated Press March 4 that a week of reduction in violence that started midnight on Feb. 21 had ended.
Leggett said that U.S. forces are responsible for defending their Afghan allies according to agreements between U.S. and Afghan governments. AP
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