Navy acquires land for riverine jungle training
U. S. Navy Special Warfare Combatant-Craft crewmen from Special Boat Team 22 cruise in Special Operations Craft-Riverines (SOC-R) along the Salt River during live-fire training in Fort Knox, Kentucky, Aug. 24/07. The SOC-Rs are specifically designed for the clandestine insertion and extraction of Navy SEALs and other Special Operations Forces along shallow waterways and open water environments.Photo by: Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Robyn B. Gerstenslager, U.S. Navy.
From the AP:
And from a media roundtable with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead in February, about a month ago:
Nobody is talking about the Gulf of Guinea. But that is where the oil and the riverine jungles are located. In addition that is where a lot of people live who are angry their natural resources are being stolen, and their land polluted. This training and new boats and ships are designed for this environment.
From the AP:
Navy completes acquisition of land for riverine training
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The Navy said today that it has acquired the land it needs in Mississippi for elite fighting units to practice with live ammunition and hone their jungle fighting skills
The land will mainly be used by Special Boat Team 22 . . . SBT-22 uses armored boats to take SEALs behind enemy lines and get them out. It specializes in river operations.
The property attracted the Navy's interest because of its access to two rivers, usability for jungle training and nearness to the location of the boat unit.
And from a media roundtable with Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead in February, about a month ago:
One of the significant drivers in our number will be the Littoral Combat Ship.
. . .
The fact is that we as a Navy do have a gap in what I call the green water. We're really good in the blue. We've started to emerge again in the brown water with our riverine force. But in the littoral or the green water, we gave a gap.
LCS fills that gap and LCS is the best ship to fill that gap. It has the speed. It has the shallow draft that expands the amount of area in which we can operate. And it's also been designed to have rapidly changeable mission modules. That's part of the design. So LCS is a very important ship for our Navy.
Nobody is talking about the Gulf of Guinea. But that is where the oil and the riverine jungles are located. In addition that is where a lot of people live who are angry their natural resources are being stolen, and their land polluted. This training and new boats and ships are designed for this environment.
Labels: Gulf of Guinea, riverine warfare
posted by Crossed Crocodiles at
3/12/2008 07:57:00 PM
5 Comments:
there's been at least one riverine squadron in iraq for a couple years. lots of rivers across the planet which still serve as primary a transport means connecting peoples & communities. also don't forget about south america, such as colombia & the amazon etc.
i haven't seen any specific mention of riverine squadron's yet in AFRICOM materials. navy already has a significant presence. AF is lining up their transport & role. quoted some naughty bits out of a recent marine corp doc that relate to their new role in nation building & AFRICOM here
and
ward testimony [pdf - 54kb] from thursday's house armed services committee hearing on the FY2009 nat'l defense authorization budget request for AFRICOM
[quote]
AFRICOM’s theater strategy will be based on the principle of Active Security. Active Security is defined as a persistent and sustained level of effort oriented on security assistance programs that prevent conflict and foster continued dialogue and development.
...
Societies require security to flourish, for security provides the foundation for political, diplomatic, and economic development, which is essential to building long-term stability. AFRICOM will contribute to this goal by employing a wide range of tools at its disposal--from conducting security cooperation activities to prosecuting combat operations--to promote security.
[/quote]
also, daniel volman has summarized both the DOS and DOD FY 2009 requests
U.S. Security Assistance Programs - The FY 2009 DoS and DoD Budget Request
By
Anonymous, at 11:09 PM, March 13, 2008
this is from the u.n. news agency, irin
AFRICOM to focus on military, not humanitarian role
[blockquote]
WASHINGTON, 14 March 2008 (IRIN) - In a key briefing to Congress on 13 March, General William “Kip” Ward, head of the US Command for Africa, AFRICOM, devoted only 15 seconds of his four-and-a-half minute opening remarks to a possible humanitarian role.
Focusing instead on military training, security and counter-terrorism, his remarks came in sharp contrast to a year ago when officials announced that the command would concentrate on humanitarian assistance, alarming many aid agencies, which were concerned that US military involvement in humanitarian aid would undermine their neutrality.
[/blockquote]
this should not come as a shock or surprise to anyone who actually uses that critical thinking apparatus between their ears. AFRICOM is, by definition, a unified combatant command. to think that the military is a humanitarian organization pushes the limits of credulity & exposes an unexamined cultural impairment.
soldiers are not trained to be humanitarians. rather the opposite, as it takes a deliberate indoctrination & conditioning to get a lot of those ideas out of their heads in order to become killers during engagement.
if professional NGOs or others actually believe that the u.s. military has/had overriding humanitarian aspirations/programs for africa, or even could be, it only reflects very badly on themselves.
By
Anonymous, at 11:13 AM, March 14, 2008
I did know about the riverine warfare in Iraq. I've been watching the development of this. On April 6 2007 the US Navy convened a Riverine Warfare Conference in Annapolis.
You are absolutely correct about the Iraq units and Latin America, as well as a lot of other riverine environments around the world. Iraq by itself would not seem to justify an entire riverine command, at least to me, but I don't know all that much.
The low level warfare in Latin America has been going on for decades without a riverine command. So considering the timing, I figured AFRICOM and Nigerian and Gulf of Guinea oil must have played a big part in the thinking behind the new interest in riverine warfare. I gather that most of the people who have any current knowledge of this have been operating in Latin America. I don't actually know if Gulf of Guinea oil is the source of this initiative, but the timing is noteworthy, like that definition of coincidence: you weren't paying attention to the rest of what was going on.
"Active Security" sounds exactly like what Reagan promised. He too promised that societies would flourish. Angola and DRC were particularly favored. Like you said, it is a combatant command, and soldiers are not trained to be humanitarians. As one soldier or ex soldier I heard or read somewhere said - a soldier's job is to kill people and break their stuff, not to protect people or their stuff.
Many thanks for the Ward testimony link. I very much want to read that, and should have time tomorrow.
By
Crossed Crocodiles, at 8:23 PM, March 14, 2008
do read the ward doc. it is the first AFRICOM posture stmt & has much material for future posts in it. not a lot that was new, but to have it all spelled out in one doc is helpful.
[blockquote]
The primary AFRICOM mission will be to promote African security by building the capacity of partner nations and organizations.
...
AFRICOM's number one theater-wide goal is to promote security and stability within its AOR ... [b]y strengthening our partners...
...
In support of vital national interests, AFRICOM's security goals and effects work to prevent attacks emanating form Africa against Americans, secure U.S. strategic access, and preserve unhindered movement along the AOR's lines of communication.
...
Strengthening our security cooperation efforts and bolstering the capabilities of our African partners are key ways of achieving our African security objectives. Through persistent, sustained engagement focused on building partner security capacity, supporting humanitarian assistance efforts, and providing crisis response, AFRICOM will promote a stable and secure African environment in support of U.S. foreign and national security policy. (italics added)
[/blockquote]
five instances of the phrase "persistent engagement" throughout the stmt, which emphasizes the long-term focus on building the capacity to help africans help the u.s. take advantage of africa's wealth in "human capital and mineral resources". this capacity building includes such plans as "addressing HIV/AIDS in the military context, thereby improving the readiness levels of African military units and increasing the number of forces that can be used for peacekeeping duties throughout Africa and elsewhere." (italics added)
on IMET - "Sustained support for a robust IMET program is a long-term investment in the future and directly supports long-term U.S. interests."
[blockquote]
Officers and enlisted leaders who recieved U.S. IMET training fill key positions in many partner African nations. Today, for example, 11 of 14 serving General Officers in the Botswana Defense Force (BDF), as well as the BDF Comman Sergeant Major, are U.S. IMET graduates.
...
Returning Senegalese IMET graduates are immediately assigned to key leadership or staff positions, and their professional attributes make them well-suited to assume leadership positions in international military operations.
[/blockquote]
the position outlined in the stmt is that AFRICOM will "promote civilian control of the military" in "friendly governments" that will provide stability (read: order) to ensure u.s. security. interestingly, the stmt does not address how it plans to deal w/ unfriendly governments.
reference to the military's small humanitarian assistance budget highlights their "dual purpose" benefit for also shaping perceptions to "place the U.S. in a positive light" as they have a "disproportionate impact as a highly visible and positive engagement activity."
getting back to the original topic, riverine units, you could very well be correct that the delta is a key candidate for future engagement. i'm not doubting it, just pointing out that it's not the only candidate. as ward's stmt admits, "in the next 10 years, the Gulf of Guinea is projected to provide the bulk of U.S. imports of sweet crude oil."
probably the funniest line in the entire document, unintentionally, one would imagine, is this one:
[blockquote]
Large-scale oil theft in the Niger Delta is a significant problem.
[/blockquote]
:-)
By
Anonymous, at 1:06 AM, March 15, 2008
Got a laugh out of that last line.
You probably saw the stories about private pipelines in the Delta. One to Ateke Tom, and a second one to unnamed recipients, a few days later, but I don't have the link right now. That doesn't happen without money, connections, and expertise.
I got curious and went back over some of the riverine warfare announcements. Like you, I have seen no mention of the Gulf of Guinea in any of them. Peru, Columbia, Korea, and the Persian Gulf were mentioned, as well as Iraq. I thought I remembered reading there was one riverine unit on the west coast, obviously not destined immediately for West Africa, one on the east coast, and one in Iraq. But now I can't verify the one on the West Coast. I may be leaping to my pet conclusions like Bobby over at African Loft, and they aren't thinking of West Africa at all. But pretty much everything about AFRICOM has not been said officially.
The testimony of General Ward is very interesting in that regard, with lots to think and write about. You picked out key points as usual. And spelled out by Ward, AFRICOM is exactly what people have been saying it is, while DoD and friends kept saying: no no no, humanitarian.
I think they started setting up the riverine units about a year before announcing AFRICOM. And as I said, a connection just leaped out at me. I also really wondered about the US again falling into the hubris trap of trying to fight everyone in a country except for the few people on their payroll. Even an earthworm can learn.
In the course of ambling around the internets today, I came across this, which if you have not seen it is worth a look. An open letter from scientists to the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations, A green revolution for Africa. It outlines pretty much all of the questions and issues. I've been trying to puzzle these out and put them all together, and here it is. It makes an excellent compliment to the link you sent earlier on Unmasking the new green revolution in Africa: motives, players and dynamics.
By
Crossed Crocodiles, at 10:48 PM, March 15, 2008
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