Soft Power From The Sea

The African Partnership Station is the model for the United States approach to Africa. It remains offshore; it has no footprint on land; it is cooperative in nature; and it is conducted on an invitation only basis. Anyone who disagrees will do so in ignorance, not because they may be wrong or right, but because they simply don't know. The truth is, I only know what the Navy has told me through news articles like this one from Navy.mil

U.S. Coast Guard International Training Division (CGITD) instructors recently trained sailors from Ghana, Mozambique and Cape Verde on basic visit, board, search and seizure methods as a part of Africa Partnership Station (APS) Nashville.

The training, which continues until March 5, was colocated aboard USS Nashville (LPD 13) and a Ghanaian navy ship on Sekondi Naval Base during Nashville's 18-day port visit.

For the class, students received instruction on proper boarding and searching techniques, along with lessons on how to search suspicious personnel and weapons handling. The training will give the countries the tools needed to help in the fight against smuggling contraband and piracy - part of an ongoing effort to keep international waters safe.

Here is the hard truth about our world. Long boring efforts towards training, education, and cooperation with other countries are not sexy, thus do not get much attention. The flip side is, if we drop a bomb in a hut in some desert land, depending upon how many people the bomb kills the story could potentially make the front page of any newspaper in America. Media is profitable if it grabs an emotional response, but information is valuable if it makes an intellectual contribution.

I have no idea how much money it costs the United States to send USS Nashville (LPD 13) to Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, and who knows where else, and you are unlikely to know either unless someone goes to Africa to ask the question. This very visible effort in outreach and building ties to African nations is not associated with AFRICOM, which may be why nations have opened their doors for our sailors to make a difference. How effective is this program, how valuable are these efforts, and is the African Partnership Station an effort that requires expansion and attention from Congress?

The truth is, it is hard to know because very few people there to see it, but if I had to guess who those people are who are getting a first hand perspective on what the Navy is doing, their names would be Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Bookwalter, Mass Communication Specialist 2nd David Holmes, Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Charles L. Ludwig, and Lt. j.g. Ellen Bock. Those are the four people to date who have written articles for the Navy regarding events taking place with the USS Nashville (LPD 13).

The Navy is so desperate to have someone cover this story the Navy actually asked me to go. Uh, while I'd love to go, I'm not a journalist, I worked on server farms all day today. Going to Africa would be too expensive for a young middle class father or two like me, and my list of sponsors numbers fewer than 1. There is one journalist who wants to go though, too bad Chris Albon was right when he blogged today that David Axe has the worst financial strategy towards earning a living I have ever seen. I couldn't agree more, but I admire him for his desire. David goes where the story is because he understands which stories have value.

David Axe needs a camera, and he could also use money for expenses. If you can spare the change, buy David a happy meal, $5 in New York (hey its a taxation state!). Support journalists who will go to Africa and cover the stories of value, the stories and perspectives that will eventually end up being evaluated as part of the research of those who study such trivial things like National Strategy and Strategic Communications. The public affairs folks apart of APS are fantastic, no question about that, but the Navy needs other journalists there to insure that Navy soft power connects to a broader domestic audience. These programs are important, but are largely understood by the masses. Journalists like David Axe makes the difference in telling the story of naval soft power to the masses, the same masses that would otherwise never know our international outreach even happened.