Written by, Roy Smith

There is an aspect to our military’s capabilities that rarely receives as great exposure as our military fighting prowess and that is our capability to provide humanitarian relief efforts.  The United States military conducts these humanitarian operations far more often than most people, inside and out of our own country, would believe. 

Every country in the world knows how powerful and deadly the United States military can be when called to defend our country’s interests or the interests of our allies.  Few countries in the world dare to challenge the United States militarily and even those countries who spout their hatred of the United States do so from behind their own borders and rarely venture out. 

The history of how our military started taking on large humanitarian roles goes back many decades but truly became large scale in the 1990’s under the Clinton Administration.  Prior to that, our military’s efforts at humanitarian operations were small and comparatively insignificant in scope.  Until then, the world relied on international organizations like the United Nations and the Red Cross to organization and provide relief supplies to areas in need and still do in large parts of the world.  However, the need for even more humanitarian relief operations around the world, like the severe drought and starvation in Africa, has caused the world to turn more and more to the United States military to provide help. 

It started first with transportation and delivery of relief supplies but eventually also included security operations.  Most of these early relief operations were successful but not all of them as the NATO military operations in the former Yugoslavian republics and Somalia proved.  We had to learn our lessons in the military as with everything else and we are now to the where our military’s relief operations around the world are far more robust than they were in the 1990s.  This is evident in our current relief operations to help Pakistan while severe flooding continues to ravage the country. 

In the present day our military conducts humanitarian relief efforts all across the world when the need arises and at a moment’s notice.  The country’s leaders are comfortable with this as they know that as soon as they promise aid the United States military can provide it within a few hours whether it be drink water, food, blankets, doctors, or even security.  This capability comes from our military’s ability to transport huge amounts of supplies and people anywhere in the world and we are frankly the only ones in the world who have the capability. 

I believe our military’s relief operations are a vital part of defending our country.  Of course not everyone would agree with me but when you look at the long term benefits of conducting such operations they are easy to justify.  If you take our most recent relief operations in Pakistan as an example then the benefits become clear.  After all, the last thing we need from a security aspect is for the country of Pakistan to fall into chaos.  The region has enough chaos to go around and whether you agree with all Pakistan is doing to help us in our fight against terrorism or not, they are our number one partner in the region.  Let us not forget the country has a nuclear arsenal as well and if the country falls apart who knows where those weapons could end up. 

As I stated before, not everyone agrees that our military should be involved in humanitarian operations around the world.  They believe its primary and sole focus should be war and fighting terrorism and believe humanitarian operations are a drain on our military’s resources which are needed in other areas.  There may be some truth to this in some cases when looking at it in a short term perspective but I served for many years in the military and I took part in more than a couple humanitarian operations.  I can tell you there is value in our continued participation in such efforts.  First, having large parts of the world seeing the United States military doing something other than blowing up buildings in Iraq or Afghanistan is, frankly, good for our image.  It makes it harder for our enemies to recruit around the world and say we are evil and all we want to do is take over the Middle East for its oil.  Public relations are important and I know from experience that war time operations and coordination with foreign government is a lot easier when we are not viewed as just invaders but instead as a force for good.  Conducting humanitarian relief operations is a very good way to do that.

I had an experience once in Afghanistan where our providing of relief supplies to an entire village made our job easier six months later when we had to free that same village from the local warlord.  The warlord supported the Taliban through money and men to secure an entire valley in which the village was located.  During our operations to illuminate the Taliban influence there we were forced to engage the warlord’s forces which number approximately eight hundred experienced fighters and an additional two thousand inexperienced local men.  It took three weeks to secure the valley but would have been much longer if the village had not come over to our side almost immediately. 

The village in question was the largest village in the valley and therefore the largest source of potential fighters against us.  Instead, very few of their men joined the fight against us and the village itself provided a base of operations to secure the rest of the valley instead of having to spend weeks establishing a base of operations prior to beginning offensive operations.  They were willing to do this because of our prior help and kindness which went against what the Taliban and the warlord were telling them.  Therefore, the end result was that we spent two weeks providing humanitarian help to a single large village and later saved ourselves weeks of offensive operations and probably saved hundreds of human lives on both sides.  The village still supports the United States military even today.

That is why using the United States military in relief efforts in Pakistan is so important.  For one thing, our military was the only organization in the world that could get relief supplies and help in large enough quantities to make a difference to the country.  Is what our military is doing expensive and time consuming away from their war time missions in Afghanistan?  Yes, but it is necessary to keep significant portions of the world, in this case Pakistan, from falling into chaos.  You could look at it as preventing future conflicts in countries whose governments fall and more extreme governments take over. 

A prime example is in the past couple of weeks, the Taliban sent several messages to the Pakistan government stating that they should refuse all aid from “Western Powers” and that they, the Taliban, would provide all the relief supplies needed.  There is not a person anywhere that I have read in the world who believe the Taliban could fulfill their promise yet the Taliban threatened the Pakistan government for failing to take their offer.  If the Pakistan government chose to take the Taliban offer, tens of thousands of people in that country would starve or die of disease within months.

These types of threats are exactly what we are safe guarding against by offering aid. I am not an alarmist, I am just saying it is possible and that humanitarian relief efforts prevent that from happening and the United States military is the best at providing what is needed.  Besides, to be called the good guys, we have to act like the good guys.  There is a saying I learned early in my military career from a former platoon sergeant of mine.  He had it on a plaque on his office wall and it stuck with me.  “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men do nothing” written by Edmund Burke. I like being the good guys.