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Updated: 2:30 p.m., Nov. 17  |  Posted: 10:11 p.m., Nov. 16

Nearly 700 Minnesota National Guard soldiers will head to Liberia in the spring to support U.S. efforts there to contain the deadly Ebola virus.

Guard members from the Rosemount-based 34th Red Bull Infantry Division will be in Liberia for roughly six months, starting in April.

The citizen-soldier unit will follow the Army's 101st Airborne Division and other troops to the area of the outbreak in West Africa. They will be assigned to help the U.S. Agency for International Development, providing logistical support to U.S. military forces.

Guard members will not be providing direct care for Ebola patients and will be held for monitoring when they return to the U.S.

"My number one priority is protecting the safety and health of our soldiers,"Army Maj. Gen. Neal G. Loidolt, commanding general of the 34th Red Bull Infantry Division, told reporters Monday morning. The unit was notified of the mission on Friday.

While in Liberia, Red Bulls will be checked twice daily for any signs of  fever or illness that might indicate Ebola. In the "unlikely circumstance" a soldier contracts the virus while in Liberia, he will be quarantined, stabilized and transported out for treatment, he added.

Returning back to Minnesota, soldiers will follow the "controlled monitoring procedures in place at that time" Loidolt said. He didn't provide details but said it would be a "21 day controlled observation program to ensure they are free from the virus."

Gov. Mark Dayton said he's grateful that the "best guard men and women" in the country are taking on the important humanitarian mission.

“We will go to every length humanly possible to assure that they're protected when they are there," Dayton said. "And that they come back and they're protected and their families and everyone else are protected until they're given a clean bill of health to return."

Liberia has been hardest hit by the 2014 Ebola outbreak with nearly 7,000 cases and more than 

. Minnesota is home to one of the largest Liberian populations in the United States.

MPR News reporter Tim Nelson contributed to this report.

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The Red Bulls will spend six months in Liberia, starting in April. They'll provide support to U.S. military forces but will not be responsible for treating Ebola patients.

MN National Guard heading to Liberia in Ebola fight

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