This article relies largely or entirely on a single source .(July 2008) |
In the United States Department of Defense, Humanitarian Civic Assistance (HCA) is relief and development activities that take place in the context of an overseas military exercise, training or operation. Under the HCA program, U.S. military personnel participating in overseas deployments carry out humanitarian activities such as road and school construction, vaccination of children and animals, and well-digging. HCA programs are often executed with the involvement of host-country civilian and military personnel. U.S. National Guard or reserve units are involved in many HCA activities.
HCA programs cannot be carried out solely for humanitarian purposes. The deployment's primary purpose must be training of U.S. forces, readiness exercises or military operations. In describing the deployments which HCA accompanies, DoD states that
overseas deployments are an integral aspect of maintaining a forward U.S. military presence, ensuring operational readiness to respond to crises, and preparing National Guard and Reserve Forces to perform their wartime missions. These exercises enhance U.S. military operational readiness by providing unique training opportunities in remote and austere environments. During these deployments, U.S. Forces practice command and control procedures, logistical operations and sustainment over extended distances.
HCA activities are now being described as "a key tool in the War on Terrorism." [1] According to DoD, HCA activities
directly support efforts to counter ideological support for terrorism - one of the fundamental elements of our national strategy and security cooperation initiatives. These humanitarian activities are often preventative in nature, focused at the root cause of ideological extremism, and provide access to regions where traditional military-to-military engagement is virtually impossible. They also provide significant training opportunities for U.S. military personnel while also serving the basic economic and social needs of people in the countries supported.
The Humanitarian Mine Action (HMA) program falls within the HCA programs authorized by Section 401 of Title 10, U.S. Code. The HMA program trains host nations in clearing landmines and other explosive remnants of war, while also providing U.S. military personnel with training and readiness-enhancing experiences by giving them "access to geographical areas otherwise not easily available to US forces." The program is directly supervised by the geographic combatant commanders.
The budget for Humanitarian Civic Assistance projects is presented in a yearly Defense Department report. The amounts indicate "incidental expenses" -- the cost of materials, supplies, and some services. The funding listed below does not include costs for transportation, personnel, fuel, or the repair of equipment. Expenses reported as HCA are only those components of a deployment which are directly related to the project at hand. Thus the dollar amounts categorized as "HCA" are very small when compared with the activity's actual expense.
The United States Army Special Operations Command (Airborne) (USASOC ( YOO-sə-sok)) is the command charged with overseeing the various special operations forces of the United States Army. Headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina, it is the largest component of the United States Special Operations Command. It is an Army Service Component Command. Its mission is to organize, train, educate, man, equip, fund, administer, mobilize, deploy and sustain Army special operations forces to successfully conduct worldwide special operations.
Standing Royal Navy deployments is a list of operations and commitments undertaken by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy on a worldwide basis. The following list details these commitments and deployments sorted by region and in alphabetical order. Routine deployments made by the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and their location of operations is classified.
The United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), located in Doral, Florida in Greater Miami, is one of the eleven unified combatant commands in the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, operations, and security cooperation for Central and South America, the Caribbean, their territorial waters, and for the force protection of U.S. military resources at these locations. USSOUTHCOM is also responsible for ensuring the defense of the Panama Canal and the canal area.
The United States Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), USACAPOC(A), or CAPOC was founded in 1985 and is headquartered at Fort Liberty, North Carolina. USACAPOC(A) is composed mostly of U.S. Army Reserve Soldiers in units throughout the United States. The size of the Command is nearly 13,500 Soldiers, which is 76% of the Department of Defense's Civil Affairs forces and 63% of Psychological Operations forces. The current Commanding General is Major General Isaac Johnson Jr., who assumed command in August 2022.
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the secretary of defense and the deputy secretary of defense for all matters concerning the formation of national security and defense policy.
Marine Wing Support Squadron 172 is an aviation support unit of the United States Marine Corps's 1st Marine Aircraft Wing. Known as the "Firebirds", they are based out of Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan. Previously part of Marine Wing Support Group 17 before they disbanded, MWSS-172 now falls under Marine Aircraft Group 36.
Canadian Special Operations Forces Command is a command of the Canadian Armed Forces. It is responsible for all special forces operations that respond to terrorism and threats to Canadians and Canadian interests around the world.
The State Partnership Program (SPP) is a joint program of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the individual states, territories, and District of Columbia. The program and the concept originated in 1993 as a simplified form of the previously established (1992) Joint Contact Team Program (JCTP). The JCTP aimed at assisting former Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union Republics, now independent, to form democracies and defense forces of their own. It featured long-term presence of extensive and expensive teams of advisory specialists. The SPP shortened the advisory presence to a United States National Guard unit of a designated state, called a partner, which would conduct joint exercises with the host. It is cheaper, has a lesser American presence, and can comprise contacts with civilian agencies. Today both programs are funded.
Joint Combined Exchange Training or JCET programs are exercises designed to provide training opportunities for American Special Forces by holding the training exercises in countries that the forces may one day have to operate in, as well as providing training opportunities for the armed forces of the host countries. Typically, each JCET program involved 10–40 American special forces personnel, though the number can sometimes be as high as 100. The United States Congress permitted the use of funds from the military budget to be used in overseas training such as JCETs in 1991, providing that the Secretary of Defense submits to Congress annually a report on overseas training activities.
Joint Task Force-Bravo is a forward-based expeditionary joint task force operating as U.S. Southern Command's (USSOUTHCOM) lead forward element in the Central America (CENTAM) region to promote stability and security and counter transnational and transregional threat networks (C-T3N). JTF-Bravo operates out of Soto Cano Air Base, Honduras, located 10 miles south of the city of Comayagua and 50 miles north of the capital city of Tegucigalpa.
Military psychology is a specialization within psychology that applies psychological science to promote the readiness of military members, organizations, and operations. Military psychologists provide support to the military in many ways, including through direct clinical care, consultation to military commanders, teaching others and supporting military training, and through research relevant to military operations and personnel. Military psychology as a field has been growing since the early 20th century, evidence that the demands and needs for psychological clinical and operational application is continuing to grow steadily. There are many stressors associated with military service, including exposure to high-risk training and combat. As such, psychologists are critical support components that assist military leaders in designing appropriate training programs, providing oversight to those programs, and assisting military members as they navigate the challenges of military training and their new lifestyle. Military psychology covers a wide range of fields throughout the military including operational, tactical, and occupational psychology. Gender differences between military-trained personnel who seek mental health assistance have been extensively studied. Specific examples include post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) associated with combat, or guilt and family/partner difficulties accompanying extended or frequent deployments due to separation. Clinical providers in military psychology are often focused on the treatment of stress, fatigue, and other personal readiness issues. Previous wars such as the Korean war, Vietnam war, and WW 2 provide great insight to the workings and practices of military psychology and how the practices have changed and assisted the military over the years.
Marine expeditionary unit (special operations capable) (MEU(SOC)) was a program created by the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy in 1985 for Marine expeditionary units (MEU). As of 2013 the term MEU(SOC) is obsolete. The program enhanced MEUs providing them with additional training and equipment to become certified as special operations capable with a Maritime Special Purpose Force (MSPF). The designation special operations capable was unique to the Marine Corps and meant in relation to special operations. The role of a MEU(SOC) however was not equivalent to the special operations role of special operations forces. Although considered special operations capable a MEU(SOC) did not form part of the United States Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) established in 1987 or the United States Marine Forces Special Operations Command (MARSOC) later established in 2006.
U.S. Army Southern European Task Force, Africa(SETAF-AF), formerly the United States Army Africa (USARAF) is the United States Army service component command of United States Africa Command.
The Maritime Civil Affairs and Security Training Command (MCAST) provides personnel, trains, equips and deploys U.S. Navy sailors for a task force commander to establish and enhance relations between military forces, governmental and nongovernmental organizations and the civilian populace. Accomplished in a collaborative manner across the spectrum of operations in the maritime environment, MCAST Command executes civilian to military operations and military to military training, as directed, in support of security cooperation and security assistance requirements.
Black Sea Area Support Group (BS-ASG), is a United States European Command initiative executed by U.S. Army Europe (USAREUR) designed to strengthen relationships between the United States and its Eastern European allies. This program is an innovative element of the Theater Security Cooperation program that focuses on enhancing partner capacity and fostering regional cooperation. TF-East provides the U.S. and its partners in Romania and Bulgaria with training facilities and, currently, a periodic integrated combined staff that stands up to facilitate combined training.
The 902nd Military Intelligence Group was a brigade-sized unit of the United States Army that operated under the command of the United States Army Intelligence and Security Command. Its primary focus was counterintelligence. The headquarters of the unit were located at Fort Meade, Maryland.
The 560th Battlefield Surveillance Brigade, based at the Cumming Regional Readiness Center in Cumming, Georgia, was a major command of the Georgia Army National Guard. It was organized as the first battlefield surveillance brigade in the Army National Guard.
The United States European Command State Partnership Program, according to its own mission, is a National Guard program that "links U.S. states with designated partner countries to ... support the command’s security cooperation objectives." Currently, 22 Partnerships exist "with former Soviet, Yugoslav and Warsaw Pact countries in the EUCOM Area of Responsibility." Becoming independent on the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991, these countries shortly requested the advice and assistance of the United States in creating new self-defense forces.
The United States Special Operations Command is the unified combatant command charged with overseeing the various special operations component commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. The command is part of the Department of Defense and is the only unified combatant command created by an Act of Congress. USSOCOM is headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
The Joint Health Command (JHC) is responsible for the delivery of military medicine and joint healthcare services to Australian Defence Force (ADF) personnel, including military psychiatry and rehabilitation services. The JHC is also responsible for providing strategic health policy, the development of the health preparedness of ADF personnel for operations, and the coordination of health units for deployment in support of operations. JHC is led by the dual-hatted Commander Joint Health and Surgeon General of the ADF.