Meals on wheels...delivering humanitarian supplies and performing that mission world wide in the image of European forces (no offense to Europe but its forces have a history of performing this type duty)
I know which one I want...but partnership missions being pushed by the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs are the first steps toward neutering our superb forces. Here's to his early retirement.
Oh and weren't we suppose to be out of Haiti by now?
Why not both? What better way for, say, an engineer brigade or a field medical battalion to practice their skill than by deploying to where they are really needed if there isn't a shooting war for them to participate in?
ReplyDeleteAnyhow, America already has two armies.
Solomon:
ReplyDeleteYou need both. One is doing the PR of USA the other one the hard work.
In this days when you need the help of your friends i.e. UK, Europe, you need to play both games, to gain the minds and hearts of your friends and of your not-as-close-friends.
Guillermo
The point gents is that we can't afford both.
ReplyDeletethe idea of being stuck in humanitarian missions around the world while still being capable of being ready to perform battlefield missions is a fantasy.
do you know how long it takes a unit to become combat effective after coming off of a humanitarian mission? on average a year. soldier skills are diminished because they have been performing a civil affairs mission.
i'll look for the study but if i recall correctly, it was found that if a unit would be forced into a combat situation directly after performing a humanitarian mission, that the unit would become combat ineffective in a few weeks depending on the intensity of combat.
How hard (expensive/...) would it be to send other people than the Armed Forces? Or, if you really need someone in cammo, reserve or National Guard?
ReplyDeleteMy point is that, maybe, you need PR but does it have to be that specific? Why not send other Emergency Services or similar? [*] NY cops / firemen might be a plus if you added some WTC prints and such, specially if they were sent to places under terrorist attack instead of (only?) natural disasters.
Just an idea. Take care.
Ferran, BCN.
[*] For what's worth, there's a joint brigade in Spain, pretty new one, for this specific purpose (disaster relief, in or out country). I gather that many old school soldiers don't like it; I personally think it might help --a lot, and far too late-- people perceive Spanish military as something other than putsch providers.
In the IDF we have a reserve unit designed to deal with disasters around the world. It is a primarily a combined engineer/medical unit. They can rescue people from collapsed buildings and give them emergency surgery. Obviously, in case of a serious war here, they can also be deployed by our Homefront Command in case of domestic missile attacks and such. Because they're a reserve unit, they're not stood up all the time and, as highly trained professionals in their fields of civil engineering, medicine, etc., they practice their skills in real life situations without costing the country an arm and a leg.
ReplyDeleteJon,
ReplyDeleteseems like the Israeli's have found the only way to do both missions at the same time. but did you notice that the way you do it is to source it out of your reserves? Brilliant!