MEU (HA/DR): Shaping the World with Civil Military Engagement
Abstract
A future strategic asset for the United States is a MEU specifically designed to respond to humanitarian assistance and disaster relief crises, and to conduct civil military operations and shaping missions, while maintaining combat capability. This MEU (HADR) will be a theater engagement resource for the respective Combatant Commanders to project a positive image of the United States on the micro level, allowing the Department of State to build upon these relationships to exploit macro opportunities. The U.S. Government has the opportunity to exploit its success in Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief missions. It can do so by developing units capable of handling the spectrum of conflict, but specifically tailored to perform humanitarian assistance and disaster relief missions. By doing so, it can preempt future wars by shaping the global areas that are vulnerable to instability. This strategy would shape the environment over the course of decades, by building partnerships with countries based on mutual interests. The unit best suited for this evolution is the MEU because of its ability to rapidly respond to a variety of missions -- it already possesses many of the capabilities needed to most effectively accomplish the mission. CONCLUSION: A MEU Humanitarian Assistance/Disaster Relief will provide the national command authority a flexible and responsive capability that projects a positive image of the United States by capitalizing on unique strengths of the military, and specifically, the U.S. Marine Corps?.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2007
- Accession Number
- ADA505423
Entities
People
- Maria Mcmillen
Organizations
- Marine Corps University