Friday, March 13, 2015
The perfect opportunity to put the USN/USMC Sea Base to the test. Super Typhoon Pam...
Super Typhoon Pam is rampaging through the Pacific and islands are being devastated by the rain, wind, mudslides and storm surge.
Read about it and watch the CNN story here.
We saw the response to a hurricane in the Philippines.
A SPMAGTF-CR just didn't get the job done. No need to replay that experiment. It failed. For all the good that was done we could have been just as successful sending the 101st Airborne.
Light Infantry that arrives by air is not what is needed. They will need the power of a Marine Expeditionary Unit to provide security, medical assistance and clean food/water.
While the MEU is able to perform this mission solo (the Navy/Marine Corps team has perfected this type of relief mission...call them the FIRST joint force), there is something we can add to make this mission even more successful in delivering aid.
Perhaps a hospital ship. Maybe include an MLP. Add those two ships to the MEU, understand that the ports will be devastated (as well as the airport) and what do you have?
A sea base.
An entity that is designed to deliver supplies across the beach without the need for ports, in a timely manner whether for relief missions or in support of the full spectrum of combat operations.
Experimenting with peoples lives on the line is terrible. This real life experiment though will deliver help that they will desperately need while we perfect operating from the sea base in a humanitarian assistance op.
NOTE: Everyone talks about the prep time that a hospital ship would need to get to areas of concern. Considering the size of natural disasters in the Pacific we might need to address that. Additionally an MLP would allow for ships of all nations to offload supplies onto it so that LCACs can ferry goods ashore. Those two ships combined with the abilities that organic to the MEU would be life savers. We just need to perfect it now. What would be quicker? Moving an MLP to the disaster zone or repairing smashed port facilities? The Sea Base would be perfect now.
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