Military Training and Humanitarian and Civic Assistance

Abstract

Although the purpose of the Department of Defense humanitarian and civic assistance (HCA) projects is training, there is no system to evaluate HCA training or humanitarian effectiveness. Few after-action reports (AARs) document the number of personnel trained, skills taught, or proficiency before and after HCAs. Nevertheless, HCAs are positively viewed by participants and offer great potential for training service personnel as well as donors, expatriates, and host nation representatives. Linking unit training calendars with HCA projects and vice versa, would improve both projects and training. Mission essential tasks should be incorporated into HCAs, and conversely, HCAs into training. Training objectives should be clearly stated early in the planning and shared with all participants (subject to security). Proficiency to training standards and performance to international humanitarian standards should be documented in after-action reports. Mandatory after-action reporting (ideally, in a standardized, easily retrievable format that supports postproject analysis) should be implemented. Reported training benefits of medical HCAs include a large number of patients treated in a short amount of time, often under austere conditions, and the opportunity to treat diseases of military importance that are not endemic in the United States. The vast majority of medical HCAs have involved direct patient care, but this scope should be expanded to include public health-oriented developmental and infrastructure-building projects that would provide lasting humanitarian benefits and training for additional personnel and units.

Strategy at the Crossroads: Medical Humanitarian Assistance Missions for Navy Hospital Ships

“…8 They noted that humanitarian and civic assistance (HCA) projects and program results have little foundation in the literature. Their results show that the US does no follow-up with patients to assess their long-term health status, projects were almost never linked to previous projects, and stakeholders providing identical or similar services rarely worked together or shared information.…”

“…9 In addition Drifmeyer and Llewellyn set out explicit recommendations for more effective military humanitarian assistance missions including implementing regulations, training, tactics, techniques, and procedure manuals for HA, ensuring military HA projects are thoroughly co-ordinated with other health care providers, and using measures of effectiveness as a condition of project approval and funding. 10 To date, however, few recommendations appear to have been implemented in military policy.…”

Needs, Acceptability, and Value of Humanitarian Medical Assistance in Remote Peruvian Amazon Riverine Communities

“…10 Short-term humanitarian medical visits, like those offered by the US-DoD and other organizations, represent an opportunity for populations in remote areas to receive health interventions in a short period of time. [46][47][48] Nevertheless, the challenge is providing care that is needed, effective, and safe. Short-term surgical HAs, focusing on correcting common childhood afflictions such as cleft palate or congenital urologic abnormalities, provide an obvious immediate benefit.…”

911 for the world: A Case for Greater U.S. Military Involvement in Humanitarian Operations

“…A recent review of humanitarian medical operations in fact cited numerous positive comments from participants as to the training benefits of such experiences 11 . The authors make the point, though, that the quality of the experience and the value of the services rendered to the beneficiaries would be enhanced by more deliberate efforts at training prior to the actual mission.…”