Montanero, I agree that WaPo is not an unbiased source, but it is generally well respected. Then again, I'm not sure that there is any such thing as a truly unbiased source?

In any case, I didn't take the article as being critical of the military. The military takes the assignment it is given, and the resources made available, and does the best job they can under those constraints. I don't want this discussion to go off on a political tangent, so I'll leave it at that.

I do have a minor quibble with one comment of yours:
Originally Posted By: Montanero
Other responsibilities and missions do not end, and disaster assistance is not a real mission of the US armed forces, it is a capability that is used, but they prepare and resource for missions.
Disaster assistance is indeed a real mission of at least some portions of the US armed forces. Up thread I noted that the 26th MEU is already active in Puerto Rico. The Marine Corps has defined 10 Mission Essential Tasks (METS) for MEUs. (For example see 31st MARINE EXPEDITIONARY UNIT OVERVIEW (mission and composition) .) One of those is explicitly stated as "Humanitarian Assistance" (HA). And every MEU does training and exercises for their HA mission during the 6 month work up prior to deployment. (For example 31st MEU trains for humanitarian assistance, disaster relief mission

The Coast Guard is part of the US armed forces, and humanitarian assistance and disaster aid is certainly part of their mission. I'm less familiar with the Army and Air Force, but I suspect various units in those services also have an explicitly stated mission of disaster response.


Edited by AKSAR (09/29/17 08:25 PM)
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