Airmen assigned to the 633rd Force Support Squadron set up gym equipment at the Langley Transit Center gym on Langley Air Force Base, Va., Nov. 6, 2014. The LTC was established as a controlled monitoring area for military service members returning from supporting Joint Task Force United Assistance, where they participated in Ebola relief efforts in West Africa.

WASHINGTON — More than 80 troops were scheduled to enter three weeks of quarantine in Virginia on Thursday after their return from a mission fighting an Ebola outbreak in West Africa.

The 51 airmen, 27 sailors, four Marines and two soldiers were to arrive by military aircraft at Joint Base Langley-Eustis, Va., in the early afternoon, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in written statement Thursday.

The group, none of whom are showing symptoms Ebola, will be medically screened on arrival. They’ll then enter a 21-day period of what the Pentagon calls “controlled monitoring” in secluded buildings near the flightline, Kirby said. During their isolation, troops will be screened twice daily for symptoms at a medical facility dedicated to the servicemembers back from Liberia.

Defense Department officials say the monitoring period, in which all troops who spend more than a short time in the Ebola zone must participate, is intended to be comfortable. Two of the larger buildings will be used as a dining hall and a gym, Kirby said.

“The facilities will include all appropriate amenities,” he said. “Troops will be able to communicate with family members via telephone and electronic means.”

Kirby said Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel “joins all Americans in welcoming the troops home” and promised to provide all the care and support they’ve earned.

“Secretary Hagel is both proud and grateful for the service rendered by these men and women in the critically important mission of trying to stop the spread of Ebola at its source,” he said.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa has infected some 14,000 people and has killed more than 5,000. About 2,200 U.S. troops are deployed to Liberia to help build treatment facilities, train healthcare workers and provide testing services to identify those who are infected.

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