Germany agreed on Friday to deploy as many as 100 soldiers to Senegal as part of a combined French/German mission to deliver desperately needed supplies to combat the Ebola virus. The troops will man a base in Dakar, from which two German Transall military transport planes will fly supplies to the surrounding areas. France will also provide planes.

“At the moment it’s not a question of money, but rather of capacity and logistics and quick implementation,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. Germany hopes to use its military’s logistics to collect aid from its neighbors and transport them to afflicted areas.

The German armed forces will also set up a treatment center in Liberia, and the French will build one in Guinea. Each will contain 50 beds.

Germany is notoriously reluctant to deploy its armed forces. Two thirds of Germans, for example, oppose arming Iraq’s Kurds.

But here is an opportunity to use the German Army in an unambiguously good way. There’s no evidence that Germany’s motivations are anything other than as stated. There is a crisis: Over 2,600 people have died in the worst outbreak of the Ebola virus on record. And the German Army can help.

There are few downsides or complications. No one debates whether the German troops are on the right side. German soldiers aren’t even being assigned to the mission—German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen is asking for volunteers rather than ordering a deployment. They’re not fighting or killing people. The only possible debate is the cost effectiveness of the mission—arguments about means rather than ends.

This is proof that the German Army can be a force for good. What better way to persuade deployment-suspicious Germans that there are times to call in the military?

As an event on its own, this use of the German military is a positive development. But it is also part of the trend where German leaders are trying to persuade the public to support a greater use of the military. For more on this trend, and its consequences, read our recent article “Germany’s Identity Crisis.”