Preventing world war iii: Armed social work as an avenue of globalization

Shannon Martin INT 301 02 DECEMBER 2015

Armed social work as an avenue of globalization A refresher: What is armed social work?

Munita, Tomas. "The New York Times." Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones. New York Times, 05 Oct. 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

What is armed social work? Armed social work is how the military, and again, Ill focus mainly on the US military, mediates conflicts in a war zone following the initial invasion. Non Governmental Organizations and militarys work together to medicate conflict, provide aid, and initiate a trusting relationship with the local populations in active war zones.Alex Kingsburry, in his article on The Pros and Cons of Military Service points out that War constitutes only a fraction of the military's daily activities, which range from humanitarian missions in places such as Haiti, Guatemala, and Pakistan to staffing bases from Germany to South Korea to thwarting pirate attacks in the world's sea lanes. These extra activities are Armed Social Work which, after the initial burst of conflict calms down, relieves tension between warring nations and encourages the sharing of ideas, technology, and support between countries.

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U.S. Military Troops and Bases Around the World. Digital image. Blog.richmond.edu. N.p., 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.

Map:White: No military Pink: TroopsRed: Troops and BasesStriped: New US bases since 9/11

3Village Medical Outreach Program

Briskey, Brian. "Village Medical Outreach Project at Bagram Airfield." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

VMOPSome of you may recall from my midterm presentation that I spoke about military personnel going into rural areas of the host country and educating local providers on more efficient and effective healthcare methods, in this video youll see one such instance. As you saw in this video, the VMOP personnel focused on teaching people, especially children, about water sanitation, childcare, and benefits of different medicine. Involve the local military as well as other foreign militaries, which helps to keep each in check. These programs are focused on improve the quality of life for the individuals in the rural aspects of the host country, with help from the local military. They need intensive training in the language and culture of the area before theyre able to help, this training allows them to distribute aid and dissolve tensions more efficiently.Phasing in local healthcare providers as the NGOs and military personnel leave is also key. They educate the local providers and slowly phase out, ensuring that the providers are able to give medical support to the village without foreign help. As you saw in the video, they also give surface level instructions to the children and families that receive the aid.Going into these villages and interacting with the people in a culturally sensitive way reduces tension enormously. It puts faces to the people the solders are trying to protect and reduces the fear native people have for the foreign soldiers. 4Human Terrain System

Implemented July 2006 during the surge

Met with organized resistance

Poor education and screening of operatives

Became too involved in the military aspect

Withdrawal of troops lead to the end of the project

Human Terrain Teams (HTTs) in Afghanistan. Digital image. Afghan War News. Www.afghanwarnews.com, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.

Human Terrain SystemThe Human terrain system was an example of Armed Social Work that did not turn out so well. Implemented in July 2006, its goal was to relieve tension between local populations and the occupying force. Met organized resistance from academic social scientists as well as resistance from the local population, which resulted in three of the social scientists dying.As was mentioned by one of my sources, Most of the academics who were hired had no substantive knowledge of Iraqi or Afghan culture. And few could speak the languages in those regions. It was well publicized but not well run; soon corruption (along with the withdrawal of troops form Afghanistan) forced the program to come to its end. HTS personnel conducted a range of activities including data collection, intelligence gathering, and psychological operations. In at least one case, an HTS employee supported interrogations in Afghanistan (Weinberger 2011).

5How does this affect the world?

Munita, Tomas. "The New York Times." Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones. New York Times, 05 Oct. 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

How does this affect the world? Wade Davis says it best in his ted talk on endangered cultures When these myriad cultures of the world are asked the meaning of being human, they respond with 10,000 different voices.. While the cultures the military is confronting are not necessarily endangered, they are all different from our own. Pattanaik addresses this in his TED talk as well, There is my world and there is your world, and my world is always better than your world, because my world, you see, is rational and yours is superstition. Yours is faith. Yours is illogical. This is the root of the clash of civilizations. Their culture is silly, uncivilized, developing. Why should we interact with them? Why should we try to improve their quality of life? We tend to see the world in simplified terms like these, especially in the military. Soldiers are taught depersonalization, and they have to be taught this. In combat, you cant hesitate to shot someone because they arent someone, they are the enemy.This idea of us vs them is hard to shake once the fighting is done. Once the initial struggle is over, we need to teach our soldiers to look past their first reactions and focus on mediating conflict and improving relations. We cant always win with guns and bombs, reaching people on an individual level is the only way to prevent further conflict. If every military in every country sticks to the Us vs Them mentality, then the tension will only continue to build on a global scale. If there isnt any Armed Social Work, foreign military personnel will continue to be seen as the enemy by the individuals in the host country

6Solution

Munita, Tomas. "The New York Times." Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones. New York Times, 05 Oct. 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.

Solution:This all ties into Cohens Better manners idea by forcing occupying militaries to consider the global consequences of their actions ,an keeping them in check with NGOs. While Cohen advocated for this method to reduce fecundity I suggest we use it to reduce conflict and, as a side effect, global tension. The world is only getting smaller, we need to learn better manors and that starts with those we send outside of our boarders. We need to make the military smarter on an individual basis. Start with the education of each soldier and work our way towards implementing culturally sensitive tactics as was attempted with the Human Terrain System. As we saw with VMOP, having a Non Governmental Agency and other foreign military units involved in the execution of such programs could greatly improve its success. Governments and private companies across he globe should take interest in relieving tensions in conflict zones, if not fotr human interest then for self-interest. Another large-scale war like World War II has the potential to affect every aspect of life around the world. Any conflict with todays technology and global connectedness could result in the loss of thousands of lives and if this could be prevented or at least curbed by Armed Social Work then I dont think it would be too hard to get on board with the idea. I think that the UN, joined with Non Governmental Agencies like those running VMOP, should form a program similar to Human Terrain System where they send in social scientists with military forces in order to mediate conflict. With better education and screening, the scientists could stop conflicts due to cultural barriers before they even become a problem and could relieve global tension between warring countries.

7The EndBriskey, Brian. "Village Medical Outreach Project at Bagram Airfield." YouTube. YouTube, 20 Jan. 2011. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.Carafano, Janes Jay, Ph. D., and Nile Gardiner, Ph. D. "U.S. Military Assistance for Africa: A Better Solution." The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 15 Oct. 2003. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.Cohen, Joel. Population Growth and Earths Human Carrying Capacity Science 21 July 1995: 5. Print. Davis, Wade. "Dreams from Endangered Cultures." Wade Davis: Dreams from Endangered Cultures. TED2003, Feb. 2003. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.Gonzalez, Roberto J. "The Rise and Fall of the Human Terrain System. Www.counterpunch.org. Counter Punch, 29 June 2015. Web. 02 Dec. 2015.Human Terrain Teams (HTTs) in Afghanistan. Digital image. Afghan War News. Www.afghanwarnews.com, n.d. Web. 02 Dec. 2015. Kingsbury, Alex. "The Pros and Cons of Military Service." U.S. News and World Report. U.S. News and World Report, 21 Oct. 2010. Web. 7 Oct. 2015.Munita, Tomas. "The New York Times." Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones. New York Times, 05 Oct. 2007. Web. 07 Oct. 2015."NATO Assistance to the African Union (AU)." NATO Assistance to the African Union. North Atlantic Treaty Organization, 16 Mar. 2015. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.Pattanaik:, Devdutt. "East vs. West -- the Myths That Mystify." Ted.com. TedINDIA, Nov. 2009. Web. 01 Dec. 2015.Pueschel, Matt. "U.S. Special Forces Medics in Afghanistan Look to Partner with NGOs on Rural Health." U.S. Special Forces Medics in Afghanistan Look to Partner with NGOs on Rural Health. Force Health Protection & Readiness, Jan. 2010. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.Stavridis, James. "A Navy Admiral's Thoughts on Global Security." James Stavridis:. TED Conferences, LLC, June 2012. Web. 07 Oct. 2015.U.S. Military Troops and Bases Around the World. Digital image. Blog.richmond.edu. N.p., 16 Apr. 2014. Web. 2 Dec. 2015.