On the Horizon

The blog appears to have recovered, as news has it the gremlins of Google knocked a number of blogs down. We know the DDG-1000/DDG-51 discussion is one topic many want to talk about, but we are going to hold off for now.

Originally we had intended to beat the weekend with a handful of observations, because as we read the news, we do believe we have something to add to the conversation. That plan didn't happen due to the blogger issue. Plan B is in the works.

Meanwhile, time to get back to business.

While still low on the radar, the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) departs on its humanitarian deployment to SOUTHCOM next week, and we intend to showcase the adventures of those bloggers as a theme. We are not sure who all the bloggers are, but will be getting that data as soon as it is available. We do know that David Axe, BostonMaggie, and Chris Albon are three of the potentially 10 bloggers part of the first segment. As we understand the process, there are multiple legs of the trip and various bloggers have made arrangements to come and go as part of that deployment, which is around 2 months total.

In particular, we note the questions Chris Albon has listed in that link above. Are these medical diplomacy deployments cost effective uses of Naval power? These are the type of questions I asked Admiral Morgan in a blogger roundtable in March, and I believe they are important questions. The Navy is a weapon in the soft power arsenal, that is the history of naval power. However, does that mean $30 million dollar hospital ship cruises or security training with regional partners? Which roles are best suited for the Navy, perhaps both?

In the past when we discussing naval soft power, there has been a tendency to jump straight to the equipment discussion regarding what ships should be managing these soft power mission profiles, and in particular many have asked is it really the role of a LHD.

We think that is skipping step one, the question is what are the best tactics for naval soft power in the 21st century. Measuring the success of the tactics, like medical diplomacy, is what the Navy needs to do first. Only when the Navy gets the tactics right is the discussion for platforms appropriate. We tend to think there must be ways of measuring success beyond statistics of patients treated, or polling data of public opinion following a medical diplomacy mission. We do not know what those ways to measure are, and we could be wrong, and those are the metrics to measure. Between David, Chris, and Maggie we should get a good range of impressions regarding the deployment, and we expect it will be fun following.

SOUTHCOM, as usual, is way ahead of the game with its strategic communications of what the Navy is doing. Another dynamic we intend to observe of this deployment is the effect of Web 2.0 from a ship on deployment. There are other things we are looking for as well, but the dynamics here go beyond a handful of folks on a Navy cruise. This is the national power by sea that has Hugo Chavez worried, not the massive US Navy battle group sailing off his coast, rather the best of what represents the United States exporting the American spirit to his backyard. He should be worried, because the USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) was invited to every port it will be visiting.

Update: Wow that was horribly written, the post has been cleaned up somewhat. I'll not blog next time I've had a Friday bender...