A Global Force for Good

📖 The Scoop

"Over 32 million people have perished in natural disasters since 1900. In an era of climate change, the frequency and intensity of natural disasters will inevitably increase. The effects of war, political instability, mass migration, pandemics, and rapid urbanization will exacerbate these disasters and cause secondary effects difficult, if not impossible, for civilian authorities to manage. No matter where a large-scale natural disaster occurs, it is inevitable that governments will request help from the U.S. Armed Forces. The U.S. military (and in particular its air and sea services) is often the only entity capable of responding in a timely and meaningful way to these disasters. It is the only military force with significant disaster response capabilities forward deployed in the world's most disaster-prone regions. In this volume, John Sherwood examines the response of the U.S. Navy and its partners in the other services to three of the most destructive disasters in recent history: the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and Japan's triple disaster in 2011 (earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown). For each case, he explains how the Navy and its sister services responded, and the broader impact of the missions. He contends that these humanitarian operations represent some of the Navy's biggest wins in recent history. They have had a greater strategic impact in the world than many of the Navy's recent combat operations. Based on original sources and numerous interviews, Sherwood not only explores a topic rarely examined by historians but crafts a vivid and compelling narrative"--

Genre: History / Military / General (fancy, right?)