Humanitarian Assistance within the United States European Command More Than a Single Success Story

DISAM Journal, Winter, 2000 by Juan G. Ayala

Conclusion

Humanitarian assistance programs may not get a lot of attention, but they provide a huge return on investment. It is worth repeating what many ambassadors have personally told us. They like HA programs because they are flexible and the results tangible. In some countries, due to U.S. sanctions or an undesirable political climate HA programs remain the only means by which the United States, through its embassies, conducts engagement activities. For those in and out of uniform unfamiliar with HA activities, it is worth reiterating that the strategic premises for conducting HA activities are central to U.S. diplomatic and military engagement. We must not forget that HA is a tool of the U.S. national military strategy. HA programs contribute to regional stability, demonstrate U.S. commitment, lend credibility to alliances, increase interaction with foreign militaries and their governments, and promote U.S. influence and access throughout the world. Engagement, through humanitarian assistance programs, will conti nue to be the overarching objective of those of us in DoD who are tasked to carry it out.

The examples above represent the spread of geography and HA work thoughtout EUCOM. However, reports could have been written about the excess property donated to the schools in Benin and Bosnia, the construction of clinics and hospitals in Lebanon and Lithuania, the school improvements in Morocco and Tunisia, the drilling of wells in Chad and Albania or the conduct of disaster management training in Armenia and Azerbaijan. Personal stories of individuals who received medical and dental assistance in conjunction with military deployments and exercises abound throughout Africa and Eastern Europe. Hundreds more success stories are in progress, and many more will be realized in the future. More importantly, the examples above highlight some of the unique, real-world issues faced on a daily basis by ambassadors and their country teams. Highlighting just one story in one country would have been an injustice to the hundreds of HA success stories that take place year-round. Even covering two stories overlooks the hun dreds of dedicated Americans and foreign service nationals who often labor under circumstances that ordinary Americans would find difficult to understand, much less endure. Finally, the telling of only one story would have diminished the daily efforts of all those staff officers and civilians at EUCOM who make the CINC's HA programs a success.

Postlude: Ivanica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, December 2000

Before leaving the village of Ivanica, our military escort from the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo, a U.S. Army major led us to the Serb village leader's home, accompanied by the Bosnian and Groat leaders. It was symbolically important for him to pay his respects to each of the ethnic leaders in the village. These gestures demonstrated the embassy's (and thus America's) neutrality towards all ethnic groups. The major found the elderly Serb working on his half-finished home. The major's attempt at a quick greeting and departure met with no success. The hospitable Serb was relentless and persuaded all of us to enter his humble yet neat home. He seated us in his tiny kitchen warmed by a wooden stove. Out of nowhere, bottles of liquor appeared along with other drinks and glasses. His wife poured as he spoke. It was a surreal scene. Seated next to each other on a crude wooden table were the three village leaders. They were bantering as if old school chums. The leaders were all of a different ethnic origin, one a Serb, one a Bosnian and one a Croat. Translating for us were two local nationals, one a civil engineer employed by a non-government organization and the other an employee of the U.S. embassy. Both women were Bosnian Moslems. Congeniality in the room prevailed. The village leaders continued to express their gratitude for the funding for their school and repeatedly thanked us in their language and in ours. They toasted to the school, to permanent peace, to more successes in the future and finally and most importantly for our team, to the United States of America.