Military's Haiti Mission Winds Down, But Soft-Power Lessons Linger

A U.S. military task force deployed in response to the Jan. 14 earthquake in Haiti will stand down by the end of next month, according to the general who is deputy commander of Joint Task Force (JTF) Haiti. Army Maj. Gen. Simeon Trombitas told reporters today that JTF-Haiti was continuing a “phased withdrawal” over the […]

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A U.S. military task force deployed in response to the Jan. 14 earthquake in Haiti will stand down by the end of next month, according to the general who is deputy commander of Joint Task Force (JTF) Haiti.

Army Maj. Gen. Simeon Trombitas told reporters today that JTF-Haiti was continuing a "phased withdrawal" over the next several weeks, as the government of Haiti, civilian agencies and international relief organizations assume a greater role. "We'll culminate with the deactivation of the JTF probably at the end of May, and then we'll just roll into the traditional military liaison office," Trombitas said.

It's a remarkably quick drawdown. Within weeks of the Jan. 12 earthquake, the U.S. military force stationed in Haiti or just offshore grew to over 20,000 personnel. An Air Force special operations team took over operation of the country's main airport; Navy hospital ships treated thousands of Haitians; troops of the 82nd Airborne oversaw food distribution; Seabees and Coast Guard personnel helped restart operations at the main container port.

Trombitas, who is also commanding general, United States Army Fort Sam Houston, Texas, said around 2,400 U.S. military personnel now remain in the task force. All of those troops are currently ashore, as Navy vessels have all left Haitian waters.

Perhaps more than anything, the involvement in Haiti shows the degree to which the military has embraced nation-building and stability operations -- missions that require a degree of cooperation with nongovernmental organizations and civilian agencies that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. In a review of Haiti operations in Small Wars Journal, Maj. Kelly Webster, recently chief of plans and regimental executive officer for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, said that kind of openness and information-sharing was absolutely essential for military organizations.

"Instead of the from the military perspective of commanding and controlling, our forte now has to be coordination and collaboration," Trombitas said. "In order to get things done, because we are not the lead agency, we have to work with and through others."

And that, he added, was one of the lessons the military had absorbed over the past decade of fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Due to all of our services experience in Afghanistan and Iraq, and working with the populations there, and with other agencies, we've developed great relationships working with our own other government agencies and NGOs," he said. "Here we've fine-tuned that, because they are the ones with with the assets that deal directly with the people, and we can enhance what they do."

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]