Foreign Disaster Response: Joint Task Force-Haiti: Observations

摘要

In Haiti, the U.S. military was a supporting element of a larger humanitarian assistance disaster relief network. Militarily, this can be frustrating at times. Chain of command is inherent to the military. Once an order is given, it is executed. Because of the enormity of the situation and the myriad organizations with disparate goals supporting the Haitian earthquake disaster response, there was no collective command and control structure. Rather, it was about all organizations coordinating, collaborating, and communicating toward a common purpose-to save lives and mitigate suffering.