Quote Originally Posted by selil View Post
Sorry but the United States military does much more than HIC. It is the primary operational response force within the United States during times of disaster (read the national response framework). The United States military is the primary agency for large scale pandemic/civil disturbance/etc. The United States military has a seat at every table where a disaster or incident of national significance occurs. This is including the fires raging in California right this minute. Oh, and since they are basically the same force sure you can say National Guard, but sorry that differential is eroding.

The United States military does much more than HIC we just seem to get wedded to our own opinions to quickly. A lot of that stuff looks like nation building/civil support to me.
I agree with all that. Same is true of almost all NATO armies.

Providing trained bodies of manpower to aid the civil authority requires very little training if any, so armies don't train to do it. - and sometimes it provides good training.

That is all completely different from going to a far foreign land and having an army build schools, churches/mosques and hospitals, as part of a political activity aimed at creating a government friendly to yours..

- and while war is a political act, those parts of it which are NOT demonstrably about creating exploiting or supporting the application or threatened application of violence, are not (or should not be) a military mission.

.... and yes sometimes you have to do it because your government lacks the political will to ensure that the right people do it.