In the same vein as USNS Mercy’s tour in the Pacific last year, and USS Peleiu’s current deployment, USNS Comfort is heading to Central and South American on a humanitarian and medical aid mission.

Demonstrating the hybrid character of SysAdmin work, the mission requires coordination between DoD, DoS and NGO personnel:

Planners from the Navy and the State Department have been meeting at each of the host nations to determine where the ship might stop and what services it can offer, sometimes in cooperation with non-government organizations with permanent operations there.

Resources like the Comfort are having less warfighting relevence, while their soft power relevence is increasing.

Designed to support combat troops, the Comfort has seen limited wartime service because of the advanced medical centers the U.S. Army and the Marines have built on land in Iraq. The vessel deployed to New York after the 2001 terrorist attacks and to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, but it arrived after the worst of the crises had passed and never needed its full medical capability, causing some to question its utility.

“People were saying, ‘Why do they need the hospital ships? What purpose do they serve?’” said Navy Capt. Bruce R. Boynton, commander of the ship’s 1,000-bed medical facility. “But what we’ve seen is they can be a very, very powerful platform for projecting America’s goodwill.”

“Obviously we’re going to have an immediate effect on some people’s lives, but I think the real impact will be measured after we leave, in six months to a year from now,” Kapcio said. “Hopefully we’ll be able to show that we’re committed to the region and committed to lasting relationships in the region.”

Read the whole thing.

Over the weekend, I finally had the chance to sit down with John Robb’s Brave New War. While I have precious little to offer to improve upon the reviews offered by others, I still want some record of this important book to show up on my blog.

As one who has been following Robb’s blogs for several years now, I was already familiar with his thinking on the intersection of open source warfare, system disruption attacks and the global black market. I have long wished for a one-stop summary of his work to introduce it to friends and colleagues. Brave New War offers a compelling overview of these concepts, making it a welcome and sorely needed addition to the current strategic dialogue.

One aspect of Robb’s work that particularly stands out after encountering all of these concepts side-by-side is its cross-disciplinary character. Robb links subjects from network theory, law, economics, military theory, history, and complexity to create a compelling picture of how globalization creates new tactical and operational opportunities for small group of insurgent or guerrilla actors.

Brave New War addresses some of the most vexing characteristics of our current conflict with an unflinching and refreshingly clear vision. It should be required reading for professionals in national security, international relations, global business, law enforcement and international development, and is valuable reading for informed citizens.

Throughout the book, Robb’s training in red team thinking comes through clearly and can, at points, lead one to feel as if our adversaries possess an insurmountable advantage. This is not necessarily a bad thing, since our path is by no means an easy one and we need to have a firm understanding of the challenges. It can also lead to dispair, however. At least it did for me, until I reached the quiet realization that these challenges would be even greater if John Robb’s talents were not on our side. I take a certain comfort in that.