Humanitarian Aid: Winning the Terror War
20 December Christian Science Monitor commentary - Humanitarian Aid: Winning the Terror War by Kenneth Ballen.
Quote:
The flagship for the war on terror could well be the US Navy ship Mercy. But this Navy vessel is not armed for battle. Just the opposite: It is fitted for peace.
The Mercy is a fully equipped, 1,000-bed floating hospital, which returned in September from giving medical care and training to the people of Indonesia, Bangladesh, East Timor, and the Philippines. The US Navy, Project HOPE, and other volunteer medical personnel provided free medical care, including major surgeries, for nearly 61,000 needy patients.
Amid the uncertainty about the best strategy in Iraq and how to answer the growing threat of terrorism and extremism in the world, there is one American policy of the past two years that has proven successful time and again: humanitarian missions by the US military. This policy is pro-military, pro-American, pro-humanitarian, and antiterrorist. Most important, it is actually curbing anti-American feelings in Muslim countries...
Air Force in Humanitarian Ops
This is the kind of stuff I was talking about in another post of mine (U.S. Air Force Loses Out in Iraq War). The AF already conducts MEDFLAG ( a medical response exercise in Africa) each year. We could expand this to a more permanent thing to use as a preventive measure. The AF has the capability to enter a foreign country, set up a useable base from scratch and conduct medical and construction missions from almost day one of entering. Thsi would be an invaluable tool in swaying opinion to our side.
Africa right now is a complete mess. AIDS, poverty, weak central governments, and a growing disgruntled Muslim population are just a few of the things that make this area ripe for use as a terrorist haven. Increasing our use of the Air Force as a provider of humanitarian aid would allow us to preempt a terrorist foothold and create a positive view of the US (similar to our use of positive propaganda in the Cold War). This, in turn, better prepares the AF for assisting with stability operations. Imagine what Iraq would look like now if we had an AF that was trained, ready, able, and willing to enter Iraq to reestablish electrical power, water, medical facilities, and the like. We had a small window to meet the needs of the population post-OIF I, for a variety of reasons we failed. One of those could have been filled by the AF.
With Africa, we could prevent the next Operation Africa Freedom by laying the groundwork for positive change. Think of it as prepping the battlefield, only this time we're trying to avoid the battle a la Sun Tzu.
Let me know if this is completely out in left field or does this make sense?
Military Medical and Infrastructure assistance
All I do not think you're seeing LAWVOL's point, perhaps he should have used broader terms vice starting out parochially, that said, his point that the US Navy Ship Mercy and the MEDFLAG operations have as much, perhaps more, value as capturing and killing insurgents is valid. It is a preventive measure, an innoculation against extremism, these are localized and visible efforts to boost the US perception in threat regions. This is entirely different from donating money to the UN or Red Cross, it is visible hands on effects based action. The fomentors of insurgency cannot just remove the Made in the USA label from a life saving surgery conducted on board the Mercy.
The point about aid dependency is a valid one. However, as these actions become more widespread they conduct training of indigenous medical and engineering personel. Teach how to fish vice doing the fishing. In some cases the talent and personel are in place locally (engineers and doctors) but they don't have the facilities and equipment.
The 'boo-boo' comment was unjustified and short sighted. The GWOT requires many different techniques, many different approaches. And this should not be dismissed out of hand. It is a complimentary activity that gives direct benefit to our struggle to diffuse the enmity that the Muslim world has towards the United States and the West. Would it work in Iraq NO. It is preventive in nature and requires benign environments.
For LAWVOL, if he can get the AF to conduct more of this great. I wouldn't hold my breath as in the current competition for the all powerful dollar big ticket tiems like Raptors and Aircraft Carriers trump mobile trauma centers and medical ships.
What to do when your out of schlitz
I guess my gripe is that all too often the material solution becomes an end unto itself. I was talking with one of the instructors here at AWC who said that he was approached for a recommendation on what a good COIN A/C would look like - He responded with both a jet solution - the old A-4 and a prop job - the OV-10. The folks who asked him went away disappointed because he would not endorse the need for a new A/C. His recommendations were just not sexy enough.
Ex. 2 Look how long it took us to come off the dime and decide that the COTS solution for MRAP was good enough - even when we were already demonstrating their survivability with the route clearnace teams and EOD.
Ex. 3 While there are other issues in fielding a new rifle - if we want one the aquisition process will ensure its years off.
It just seems like its hard to get out in front when we continue to draw our material solutions from the board instead of the field. Right now is different then the 1990s, and we need to treat it differently in terms of how we resource our needs when we're talking zero sum gains.
I thought about it a little after I read LVs post and came up with a rough intro:
What to Do when You are out of Schlitz: A Concept for Outsourcing Large Scale Capabilities for SSTRO Missions
The United States is in a resource intense security environment and is unable to provide the scale of military means needed to meet all the demands. The question remains however that with its finite resources committed primarily to Iraq and Afghanistan, how does it shape other regions and environments in order to prevent destabilization? How does it create the conditions which in avoids a host of security problems in places we’ve identified as being in jeopardy, but are unable to affect? The answer may be in combining outsourcing with limited critical capabilities provided by the U.S. military and OGAs. The concept would not be a one size fits all, but a scaleable solution based on the local and regional security environment. It would involve PMCs, contract shipping and air (Contract LOG), NGOs and regional partners working within the confines of the mission as defined by the United States. These limited critical capabilities would almost always require US C2 (Command & Control), but depending on the level and type of threat, may for different lengths of time require other US capabilities not committed elsewhere.
TOPICS
Contract air, PMC security, US distribution, NGO medical, US C2, Contract engineering,
(I'm not sayng the US is unable to produce the means - but that is a choice, and the result is that the means by which the military can employ is limited by funding and policy - that is just the way it is)
I am not of the notion that it would be a good idea for example to hire a PMC to form a BDE. I am also not of the idea that asking them to take on a long term mission we have identified as something critical to our strategy - ex. the advisory mission. I believe those are better left to the uniformed services (or regional parnters) & will mean tough choices for us. However, if we are talking about helicopter pilots for supply runs, contract convoy escort and site security for NGOs which are of a limited contract and are re-evaluated every time, then I think it may fit.
I don't have too much spare time these days as I work my way through BSAP, but I'd be willing to work on it with somebody if they want to pursue it. This is one instance where I think we may have to resort to Contract and PMCs because we just can't spare the Schlitz. It may already be that we are doing allot of this (outside of OIF/OEF), but I have not seen it on a large scale. It would still be pricey but it would address a capability gap.
Along the Lines of Simple Solutions.....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19121634/site/newsweek/
"Most of the LifeStraw's users will never drink anything fancier than plain water through the device. But its impact on their lives can't be overstated. More than 1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe drinking water, and 6,000 people die each day of waterborne diseases like typhoid, cholera and dysentery. In regions like sub-Saharan Africa, half of most people's water consumption takes place outside the home—either while they're working, or walking to and from school. Vestergaard Frandsen S.A.—which also produces mosquito nets and plastic sheeting coated with insecticide to fend off malaria—hopes that the $3 LifeStraw will drastically lessen their chances of getting sick. "It's a product that can save lives without spare parts, electricity or maintenance," says the firm's CEO. So far about 2,000 LifeStraws have been sold, mostly to aid agencies. (The product is still being fine-tuned for mass production.)"
My work in the bush was essentially cooperative development but I recall the dilemma of the health care workers in trying to persuade villagers to cover open wells and the constant struggle to rehydrate infants dying from diarrhea. The problem with well covers is not only the expense of getting them made and understanding the need for it but realizing that it adds yet another chore to already hard living and doesn't account for the fact that young girls haul alot of water. You got a 12 yr old girl that now has to lift a sturdy well cover off, draw water by hand and replace a sturdy well cover, assuming the family could afford the material to make one in the first place, then carry the water. Add to this the short attention span kids tend to have and it really wasn't feasible though well intentioned and consuming provider's energy/resources. Any quick, humanitarian reaction force would want a passle of these water straws to provide to the needy. I would presume the military is already on to this resource but if not, somebody needs to alert somebody to it. At 3$ a pop, you can't go wrong.