Thanks to Glenn Reynolds for the link. It’s obsolete, so go here:

LINK

That’s the entire category.

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Photo: a series of photos showing a humanitarian aid mission by the USNS Mercy in East Timor.

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Boxer is home in San Diego, after successful stops in three Latin American nations. Operation Continuing Promise ‘08 was designed to provide medical assistance and education to people in Guatemala, El Salvador and Peru. A contingent of SeeBees were aboard tasked to engage in repair and reconstruction activities at various sites in the host countries. And a load of materials donated by Project Handclasp, books and other supplies, was along to be distributed where needed.

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USS Boxer (LHD 4) along with various embarked units and non-governmental organizations (NGO) arrived in Acajutla, May 19 for the second stop of Continuing Promise (CP) 2008.

CP is a collaborative effort between the United States and partner militaries, non-governmental organizations and partner-nation support organizations to build strong partnerships that can be called upon in the event of a regional situation requiring cooperative solutions.

CP’s medical contingent, led by the embarked Fleet Surgical Team (FST) 5, will spend six work days alongside local medical providers at El Salvador’s Miravalle and El Sunza schools providing primary medical care to nearly 6,000 Salvadoran citizens. The team will also spend 10 days at El Salvador’s Sonsonate Regional Hospital performing hospital equipment repairs and holding education and training to hospital staff, while also sharing ideas and experiences on best practices for long-term public health solutions.

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Guatemalan military leaders ceremoniously welcomed USS Boxer (LHD 4) to Puerto de San Juan on May 7 to mark the official beginning of operations in Guatemala as part of Continuing Promise (CP) 2008.

CP is a collaborative effort between U.S. military services to work with non-government organizations and host nations to build strong partnerships which can be called upon in the event of a regional situation that requires cooperative solutions.

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The Boxer ops for Continuing Promise ‘08 include having a number of Navy partners’ personnel aboard. There are also military personnel that are not normally a part of the Boxer’s crew, such as Seabees, members of the Uniformed Public Health Service and volunteers from other military branches.

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It wasn’t so long ago that the appearance of a United States Naval vessel off the coast of a Central or South American nation meant only one thing. The Marines were landing, either to prop up an existing government or to replace it. The history of United States interventions in the affairs of other nations in our hemisphere goes back to nearly the founding of our country. You cannnot blame the citizens of Latin American nations if they have a suspicious view of the United States and the United States Navy.

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The Air Force has flown 70 humanitarian missions to Burma in support of the relief effort for Cyclone Nargis victims, Defense officials said here today.
Over Memorial Day weekend, five C-130 flights per day arrived at Rangoon International Airport and delivered supplies.

To date, Air Force relief flights have delivered 409 pallets containing water, blankets, hygiene kits, mosquito netting, plastic sheeting for shelter, food, rice, plywood and medical supplies. The total weight is 637.27 metric tons.

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The DoD has discontinued the “To Any Soldier” program, which was a program where you could address a package “To Any Soldier” and it would be sent to a random soldier.

All packages must be REQUESTED by the troop and this is why we built the site. Soldiers, airmen, Marines, sailors, and Coast Guardsmen give us their address and we send them a package. No more blind drops. Everything is requested by the troop per DoD guidelines.

Keep in mind, troops are deployed all over the world. We have more than a million troops and only 300,000 are in the Gulf. Books For Soldiers accepts requests for those stationed all over the world.

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This is the first time a JCOC has toured SouthCom. Though most previous trips have exposed participants to U.S. military might, this JCOC group is seeing more of the U.S. military’s humanitarian assistance and other aid-oriented missions, known as “soft power.”

Today’s stop included a briefing about Joint Task Force Bravo, which covers operations from Belize and Guatemala to Panama. It involves humanitarian assistance and disaster relief and counter-narcoterrorism, and provides an intermediate staging base and forward operating base in the region.

U.S. officials value the region because 40 percent of U.S. trade is with Latin America and Canada. Three of the four largest contributors to U.S. oil imports are countries in the Western Hemisphere, and 90 percent of all drugs entering the United States transit Central America, officials here said.

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