Today’s Bloggers’ Round Table gave us the opportunity to interview Adm. Joseph Kernan, Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Commander, U.S. 4th Fleet.

The Fourth Fleet was originally created during World War II and assigned mission in the South Atlantic. It was disestablished in 1950. In April 2008 it was reactivated and assigned duties in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and the Caribbean Sea, to include all of Latin America.

Fourth Fleet has no ships. Adm. Kernan is a Navy SEAL. It has responsibilities in two different oceans. This makes for a curious start.

The reality is that Fourth Fleet has as one of its primary tasks the CNO’s direction to build partnerships with friendly nations. To that end, it ran Operation Continuing Promise ’08 this year where both USS Boxer and USS Kearsarge deployed on humanitarian missions in Latin America. Kearsarge came from the Atlantic Fleet and Boxer from the Pacific Fleet and were under Fourth’s control for their missions.

In addition, Fourth Fleet will serve as a training partner for the militaries in the region. Operation Southern Partnership Station will be held in the summer of 2009. It will involve the USS Oak Hill, United States Marines as well as Marines from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Peru and Uruguay. Some of our partner Marines will embark at Mayport, Florida while others will join during the op. Some of the partner nations will also join the command element on board.

Planning at Fourth Fleet includes possible mass migration activities, such as if there were to be another Mariel boat lift. The Fleet is also involved in supporting anti-drug activities and anti-terrorism activities.

Missions such as Continuing Promise are planned to continue indefinitely. The goal is to institutional the Navy’s presence in the region. A recent conference held by the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington with a number of NGO’s involved changing their perceptions of the Navy’s humanitarian assistance role and informing them of the Navy’s capacity to provide a wide variety of support to their work.

Kernan told us that one of the biggest lessons from Continuing Promise for him was the importance of joint / interagency cooperation. This cooperation was vital in the successes achieved during Continuing Promise ’08. He stated that NGO’s are now lining up for inclusion in future Navy humanitarian missions.

One of the most innovative changes to come out of Continuing Promise ’08, according to Adm. Kernan, was a cybermedicine program with a group of doctors in El Salvador. They now have the ability to realtime their surgery to Mayport and obtain advice and consultations with doctors in the United States during their treatment of their patients.

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.

In a five part series this week, ANSJ will look at one step that the Navy is taking to change that perspective, Operation Continuing Promise 2008, and in particular the activities of the men and women aboard the U.S.S. Boxer this Spring. A group of hard working Americans is making a difference one roof, one paintbrush at a time.

The U.S.S. Boxer sailed from San Diego at the beginning of May. It has visited Guatemala and El Salvador, and is scheduled to proceed to Peru later in the Summer. Operation Continuing Promise 2008 is a partnership between the military – all four services, the uniformed Public Health Service, and Project Hope, a private NGO. The embarked personnel have been working with host nation civil and military authorities, local and regional NGO’s and the local population. The mission is to improve healthcare, provide health information and training and to provide other assistance wherever possible.

Commodore Peter K. Dallman:

“The variety of training and capabilities Continuing Promise will take into the region clearly demonstrates our nation’s commitment to fostering cooperative partnerships,” said Dallman. “This is a diverse mission that demands a diverse ship and crew. The same flexibility that makes Boxer an effective warship also makes it an extraordinarily effective platform for performing humanitarian assistance missions.”

U.S. Southern Command:

Embarked units and organizations aboard Boxer for CP include Amphibious Squadron 5, Fleet Surgical Team 5, U.S. Public Health Service, Project HOPE, Project Handclasp, Navy Seabee Construction Battalion Maintenance Unit 303, Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron 14, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 764, Tactical Air Control Squadron 11, Special Marine Air Ground Task Force 24, Helicopter Sea Combat Support Squadron 23, Assault Craft Unit 1, Fleet Survey Team, Beach Master Unit 1 and Maritime Civil Affairs Team 205