After 29 August: Humanitarian System

First, I have to say that I believe we do not have a humanitarian system. We have a system of different agendas that hurt the humanitarian efforts or goals for certain disasters.

When we were discussing the four types of humanitarianism groups I found that already classifying the different types is the first problem in humanitarian efforts. These different groups have different agendas and ideas of how to carry out humanitarian efforts. The dunantist groups are the most “pure” humanitarian group with an independent agenda from any government. The other three types, Wilsonian, Solidarist, and Commercial are just beyond what a humanitarian effort should focus on or try to get accomplished.

Wilsonian groups are blinded in my opinion by a government backing them and telling them to spread democracy. This hinders the aid groups from helping the people who are in ne
ed of either medical assistance or those who need assistance with finding a temporary place to live, a place to eat, and most importantly drink water and be safe.

The groups who have agendas that include spreading ideologies along with actual humanitarian aid actually have a clouded vision of what is a humanitarian effort. Groups who have more than a humanitarian agenda hurt the process of responding with aiding to a disaster whether it is man-made or natural. For example, Professor Tapia said that one shoe company took a few truck loads of sneakers that did not sell just to get them out of their inventory. However, this company called it a humanitarian effort, but in reality it just added to the troubles of that country who just experienced a disaster. That country now has to deal with all the other problems that arise from the natural or man-made disaster and the new truck loads of unwanted sneakers that does not help the aid process.

Some of the strengths of the humanitarian system is that there are so many organizations that set up shop in the country or region that needs aid and begins to administer help. However, this does cause communication problems between all the organizations involved in the efforts to help the people who need it.

In my opinion, I believe that the best organization that responds to disasters with effectiveness is the US Military. Our military is one of the best responders to any disaster because it is so well organized and the resources that are available make it very easy to respond to all types of disasters. For example, our United States Navy has the resources to reach any area of the world to give aid whether it be a man-made or natural disaster. The US Navy can treat people aboard the USNS Mercy or USNS Comfort (large medical ships, floating hospitals), like we did during the January 2010 Haiti earthquake by sending the USNS Comfort.

When not backing up a military operation treating the wounded soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines it has planned humanitarian missions. The United States Navy made sure that humanitarianism should be a core component. They have over 1,000 beds and 12 operating rooms that has the ability to treat pretty much anything you can think of. The USNS falls under the Geneva Convention for health care. If attacked it is considered a war crime. The Commanding Officer CAPT James Rice says that The United State Navy works “hand in hand and arm in arm”with humanitarian groups like Operation Smile, Project Hope, and International Reflief. 

The video below is very interesting and if you have sometime do watch it and just notice the great things that the US Navy does for people home and abroad. 

About Me

My name is Evan Jarusewski. I am a senior at Penn State University: University Park majoring in Security and Risk Analysis with a concentration in Intelligence Analysis and Modeling.  I just completed my internship at the International Center for the Study of Terrorism (ICST) here in State College, PA.  I worked on a 3 year, $3 million project, called Comptetitive Adaptaion of Terrorist Networks (CATNet) for the ONR (Office of Naval Research). 
I am on Active Duty in the United States Navy in an Officers Program called the Bachelors Degree Completion Program (BDCP). After graduating from Penn State University, I will go to Officer Candidate School (OCS) to be commissioned in the Navy as an Ensign. Following my graduation and commissioning from OCS, I will go to Flight School in Pensacola, FL.

I am originally from Newville, PA a small town around Carlisle, PA but now I live in Castle Rock, CO. I graduated from Big Spring High School in 2008 and then started attending the greatest University in the country, Penn State!

I enjoy skiing and hiking 14ers (14,000 foot plus mountain peaks) in Colorado, not sure which is my favorite.   I have conquered a few of Colorado's highest peak, Grays Peak (14,270 feet) being the highest!

My career goal is to serve 20 years in the United States Navy as a Naval Aviator.  I also want to attend The United States Navy Strike Fighter Tactics Instructor program (SFTI program), which used to be known as United States Navy Fighter Weapons School, known to everyone as TOP GUN!  Then I want to become a US Navy Blue Angel. 

I signed up for SRA 397A: Crisis Informatics because I thought it looked very interesting.  The advertising for the class was great, grabbed my attention very quick!  When a natural disaster or man made disaster happens, I am usually glued to the news channels on TV.  I am always interested in what happened and how effective and timely the response was.  I like to talk about technology and how responders could use technology to increase their effectiveness.  The course has definitely lived up to my expectations in the types of conversations generated just on the first day.  It will be a change from the typical college course where you listen to the professor talk to themselves and the students just fall asleep on the desk.  This class seems to be the way the SRA program needs to lean towards instead of boring lecture classes that nobody seems to get anything out of at the end of the year. 

I am looking forward to talking about 9/11 around the 10 year anniversary.  That event in our county's history is the reason I am studying what I am studying at Penn State University!