What's going on everyone? Sam here with Layton's Sports Cards. We are ripping one box of 2022 Panini Select UFC H2 for Landon G. So good luck Landon. Blue in the first pack here Landon. We've got a Moderigic suit, rookie on the disco, and that is Vulcan, Oids de Mir, light heavyweight, 12 out of 49, blue disco. Red coming up here too, two numbered cards. That is a red, Dreykis, Plessis, red octagon side, 61 out of 99, very cool. Take two numbered cards for sure, you're not even necessarily even guaranteed one. Silver Brock Lesnar, man good box here so far. We've got Matt Schnell on the disco and a Tiago Santos. That'll do it for your break there. Landon, congrats on the hits man, we'll get them right out to you. Thanks again.


Hello my darling extraterrestrials, I am Kim. This is Dustmoats and Velikor, and Trader's Ruin is a fast-paced hypnotizing adventure with a romance that is so heartbreaking. I literally threw the book across the room in the best way. You know what I'm talking about, right?  And if you haven't thrown a book across the room, you should seriously try it and also possibly read different books. That's mean. I shouldn't say that. But also like, it's cathartic. Find a book that gives you so many feels that you have to pitch it across the room. I do, I do react to emotions quite physically. Okay, this is a tangent and we're moving on. Potential spoilers for the first book because this is the second novel in the Trader Circle trilogy? Saga? Fingers crossed for a saga because oh my god, I could read 12 more books of Alex and Sage like bickering and being in love just while they serve King and Country. The first book follows Sage Fowler, a highly intelligent young woman in a world that is not really prepared for highly intelligent young women. She also has an unusual skill set, having grown up in the woods with her father who's a fowler. He trains hawks. I had to look it up. She learned to track, to hunt, to find water, and which plants you definitely shouldn't eat because they are going to kill you. But after the death of her father, she finds herself in the care of her uncle and the tutor to her young nieces and nephews. She also finds herself on the list of eligible young women to be put before the matchmaker. This is not at all what Sage wants for herself and she goes to considerable lengths to make herself appear unsuitable. Darnessa, the matchmaker, sees through this in an instant. But instead of forcing Sage into an unwanted marriage, Darnessa instead takes her on as a sort of apprentice, tasked with gathering information about all of the eligible young people in the kingdom and all of their families so as to make the best matches for them, of course. Sage is very good at this. Traders kiss unfolds into a complex plot of mistaken identities and espionage, treason, and romance. You can read it by itself, but why would you because Traders Ruin is here? Seriously, if you haven't read the first book, like stop here. Go read the first book because after this point there will be spoilers. The second book Traders Ruin starts when Sage is working as a tutor to the royal family and the queen comes to her seeking information about the secrets that are unfolding in the king's council chambers. These secrets definitely involve Sage's betrothed Captain Alex Quinn who's been recalled to the capital with urgent haste and only the foggiest of instructions. When the king tasks him to train an elite force of soldiers in secret, Sage knows that there's something happening beneath the surface and no one gets between Sage and the information she seeks, not even Alex himself. This book is a beautiful mixture of espionage and romance and politics and adventure. It's very fast paced and since there are multiple perspectives flying around, you the reader always end up knowing everybody else's secrets first, so you're just waiting for someone to put the pieces together. You're never actually worried about the outcome. The whole effect is a positive upbeat adventure that has your mind racing but isn't really anxiety inducing. I gotta say though so many of the heartaches in this book could have been solved with communication. Alex has a bad habit of stopping discussions before they even happen and if at any point he had actually listened to Sage and maybe explained why he didn't think pretty much any of the things that she was suggesting should happen, she wouldn't have felt the need to go behind his back. And I'm not saying that's justified either, I'm just like she- he left her without any options aside from going above his head and then he got hurt that she went above his head and really it was his own damn fault but also there are valid reasons. Really just talk to your significant other. Just talk to them. Really I think that's the main lesson of this book is just to talk to your significant other like communicate your needs. Just be like hey yo this is what's going on. So most of this book is them learning how to be together because sometimes love isn't enough but I kind of love the heartache. I'm here for it. What can I say? I enjoy crying.  Oh and don't forget to subscribe. A viento!


Johnny dollar Johnny Continental insurance company that's right in Boston mass. Yes. Well, it's nice to hear your voice again Freddie Only why doesn't somebody call me from somewhere where it's nice and warm this time of year? Well, that's pretty hot for me Tell me all okay, and I'll bring you Bob Reddick in the exciting adventures of the man with the action-packed expense account America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator yours truly Johnny dollar Expense accounts submitted by a special investigator Johnny dollar to the Continental Insurance Company Boston office Following is an account of expenses incurred during my investigation of The paperback mystery matter decided it might be smart to have my own car along So expense account item one is 420 for a tank full of gas And less than four hours after I talked with Fred briscoe on the phone I was in his office on Commonwealth Avenue there in Boston and then over a lunch at the famous old Union Oyster house Then another half dozen on the half-shell Johnny were you kidding? But I sure love the seafood in this town of yours who doesn't But I certainly wish mr. Gerson would get here. I ought to be back at the office Gerson. That's your client. Yes, Henry R. Gerson He wants to tell you all about his worries himself And I'm sure the only reason he insisted on meeting us here was to catch a free lunch that kind of Johnny That old crook is worth millions. You'd never know it by the way he lives and dresses by that Ramshackle old apartment he lives in he said crook. I did Every penny that old miser ever got hold of and still has for the most part Came from some dirty deal that he put over on somebody Which makes him one of the most hated people I've ever known And just as soon as he made a new friend he'd proceed to take him, but royally a real nice guy What sort of deals does he make? Well, he doesn't anymore last 10 or 15 years He just sat around counting his money and gloating over the fact that he can keep a couple of poor Resentful nephews and niece from getting their hands on it until he dies and they are Gerson's heirs only because there is only living relatives And they're poor yes, and Well, I'm afraid I'll have to admit that they deserve to be Up until their parents died and left them with no money. No nothing Jerry and Paul had planned to study for the ministry But now mr. Gerson tells me that they're just drifters one job after another and never on a job long enough to pay their bills 11 Syracuse New York just waiting for the old man to die right so he has no use for them and the niece Her name is Nancy Trimmer lives here in town works as a checkered one of the supermarkets when they don't catch her short changing the customers And I guess she just as leaf helped the old man into his grave as the other two nice people yeah But no worse than Gerson himself, so he's worried that one of them may try to knock him off. Yeah, that's it John Oh, here he comes don't let on to him that I told you anything at all about it. I told you that I'd tell him Oh, hello there mr. Gerson. Oh, you're Johnny doll. Hey, that's right. Mr. Gerson You don't look like much to me and you think you can keep those white those young relatives of mine from murdering me You get their hands on my money. Well, suppose you sit down sir and tell me what makes you think they might try it I think I know what I've got proof of it all the proof I need What kind of proof go on move over breast go let me sit down Oh, certainly sir at least that insurance company of yours can do is to buy me a square meal Oh, yeah, of course, I'd be glad to after all I give the company over a thousand a year in premiums on my life insurance Don't I something like that 1124 dollars and 12 cents every year And the only reason I haven't tried to cash it in is because you give me back less than half of what I put into it Well, now that isn't all right. All right, let it go. What's the face value of the policy friend? 47,000 double indemnity and if those crooked nephews of mine get away with whatever they're up to That's the way it'll get paid to them double But if you're leaving them the rest of your estate what well this insurance money is only a drop in the bucket Oh, it is huh.  Hey, I take it There is the usual suicide clause and the policy. Yes, you're all right All right, we've been all over that now the thing you gotta do dolly is to keep me from getting murdered now Wait just a minute. Yeah, you talk about being perfectly willing to commit suicide That's right. You sit here and demand protection to keep you alive. Now that doesn't make sense Does it don't you get smart now?  I suppose you do later later later after I get some food in me. Waiter. Waiter Bring me a menu And he packed away the food as though it were to be his last meal on earth And refused to talk further about his problem until he was finished and the bill was paid by Fred briscoe, of course Even then I asked him once more about whatever it was that had him worried In a public place like this Where everybody in town might hear me you think they don't know Was that what did you say nothing nothing? You think I want to stay around here in town with my life in danger. I'm going to take you out to my place where I'm safe You got any objection? Whatever you say, Mr. Gerson if you can foresee the end of international tension, you're more of an optimist than most people It's understandable that all of our citizens like to keep in touch with latest global developments CBS news meeting this American need to know has expanded its worldwide coverage for longer stronger reports reviews and commentary Expanded CBS news on CBS radio the first word in speed the last word for accuracy daily at this address sense If it was perfectly safe for all mr. Gerson to wander in town and meet us at the oyster house Why this sudden urge to get on back to his place and lock himself in? Anyhow after telling Fred briscoe. I'd check with him later. I drove Gerson to his apartment It was in a wholly undesirable section that I hadn't even known existed How they're railroad tracks out and back of this place. What's the matter with you? Can't you hear? Well, if you will pardon me for saying it mr. Gerson Well, I got the idea from Fred that you were pretty well off I am of course I am yet you live in a dingy place like this in a neighborhood like this Is there any reason why I shouldn't waste not want not is my rule sure I got money plenty of it a couple of million if you want to know That's no reason. I've got to throw it away on high living is it two locks on the door That's right, and double locks on the windows. I've seen them on myself Even nailed up the trance from there over the door Long as I'm here. I'm safe.  Well now you still haven't told me. All right. All right sit down dollar now I'll tell you why I know that one of my nephews.  I'd like to know what it is Philippians 212 that's from the Bible. You know your Bible. Well, I'm afraid I don't recognize that part Yeah, I looked it up and you know what it says in that chapter and verse it says work out your own salvation Well, I'd hardly call that a threat. I would and the second one came in the mail Same neat kind of typing No name signed on them. Where are they mail from over in Syracuse, New York? Well, my nephews live and look at this one. I'd say a thirty eight one that's thirty eight chapter first verse Set thine house in order. I Thought you didn't know the Bible Well, I remember that because it was used in a threatening letter a few years ago out in Chicago So you see you see what I mean and this one Revelations 210 says be thou faithful unto death So I should be faithful to them a keep my promise to leave more I got huh Mr. Gerson and this one Romans 623 the wages of sin is death. That's right Sin just because I I let them starve a bit when their folks died and they didn't have anybody to turn to and you Didn't give them any help. Why should I?  Don't you see that's what they've got me They're all the relatives. I got if I don't will it and the state will give it to them anyhow There's nothing to keep you from giving your money to charity charity me not on your life So I gotta leave it to them, but I'm not going to let one of them kill me naughty if you Can help it you see what I mean Yeah, I guess so yeah, that's what you're getting paid for isn't it yeah Listen boy now either you lock up those rotten kids and throw a scare in them that'll keep them from murdering me Or else you've got to stay here and protect now wait a minute these Quotations from the Bible.  I'm staying locked up tight here in this apartment You do that this old man was either a nut or up to something But what? And I had to admit those unsigned notes pointing out passages in the scriptures could possibly have been taken as threats and Since both the nephews had planned to study for the ministry But first I called on the niece Nancy Trimmer because I hope that she'd know enough about the nephews to be able to tell me if her Suspicion about them was justified Her rooms in the southeast corner of town were a little better than her uncle's and most of our conversation Her conversation took place in the kitchen Look at you from the parole, Mr. What you see your name is a dollar Johnny dollar. Yeah, well, just leave me alone. See so maybe I did make a little mistake Helping myself to some of the groceries in that job. I had before this trimmer this new job.   Why you gotta come around here checking up one, but I'm not persecution that What do you mean? You're not I represent your uncle Henry's insurance company. Oh, yeah Well, I don't want any insurance. So get out of here and let me cook myself. Not even his insurance If he dies What's that? I said hey sure Me I'll grab anything. I can't have that old-skinned Flint's insurance or anything else I can get my hands on So, uh Maybe you've got some idea how to make him die real quick. Well apparently somebody has he's been getting threats against his life Yeah, well, I hope whoever it is means it. You know who's doing it. No, not yet That's why I'd like to ask you some questions. Yeah, what about about your cousins Jerry and Paul? Listen, you want to know anything about them you look them up in Syracuse, New York Ask them and leave me alone so I can fix my supper and yeah Then curl up with a book and improve my mind just like Paul and Jerry always said I ordered and I look miss trimmer Preachers, huh? Well, the only preacher and I ever got from them was I ought to read up and educate myself Maybe that's not such a bad idea. Oh, yeah, you think I don't read I read a lot You see him in there all those books. You mean all these paperbacks. What's the matter with reading that stuff? You want to know the truth the only reason I sit around here with them every night is account I can't afford to buy a lot of fancy clothes and be out on the town with a lot of fancy sports like you miss Trimmer if you'll stop talking I like sports like you anyhow all I like is me see I like my company better So if you'll just get out of here and leave me alone, then you're not interested in the threats against your uncle Not unless somebody carries him out now. Will you leave me alone? Syracuse But I had to see him I had to see him Item two ten cents or a phone called a Fred briscoe and I told him what I'd learned or hadn't learned Yeah, I know how you feel Johnny, but if those are meant to be threats Oh, I'd better grab a plane and call on those nephews Jerry and Paul You know their address old man Gerson gave it to me. Good perfectly safe there alone Huh, I could call the police on this not even the police could get into this apartment of his without busting down the door So don't worry about him. I'll see you when I get back. Okay, Johnny You know something I Should never have hung up that phone and flown to Syracuse. I Should never have left old man Gerson alone there in his apartment Don't worry about him Probably the wrongest thing I ever said in my life Back go the better it tastes and in commander the tobacco is vacuum clean new machine the mark eight that takes rich full-flavored tobacco and Gently vacuum cleans it and the cleaner the tobacco the better it tastes noticeably better the cleaner the tobacco the better It tastes and in commander the tobacco is vacuum clean 1990 plane fare to Syracuse Item 5 650 for a cab from Hancock Field to the first floor apartment out near Sunnycrest Park Where Paul and Jerry Gerson lived no, I'm Paul mr. Dollar Jerry isn't here. Oh, where is he? Well to be honest about it. I don't know but he said he mightn't be back tonight. Oh, he did but Come in sir. Thank you from Uncle Henry's insurance company. Did you say that's right? Sit down, please right you and Jerry stand to collect quite a bit when your uncle dies, don't you? We don't want it mr. Dollar. Oh You don't oh, it's been tough sir.  I beg your pardon, sir When did Jerry leave? Well, it was right after mr. Fred briscoe over in Boston phone to say you'd be here and then Fred told you I was coming here Yes, sir, and he said to please have you phoned him, sir. Oh, excuse me. Oh great. No wonder. I'm getting all this pretty talk Hello Yes, sir, he's right here. It's for you mr. Dollar for me Mr.. Briscoe know it is Fred what was the big idea of telling these kids? What did you say in spite of all this locked over hold the phone all right? Oh, that gun sir, and maybe you better start remembering where your brother went Johnny everything's under control friend Well, I'm not sure I know what you mean because you see mr. Gerson's death was suicide what the police are certain of it They are are they well, I have some other ideas you have all the guns Jerry Johnny maybe so Maybe no, please sudden appearance knocked everything into a cocked hat And then the boys reaction of their uncle's death They're repeated completely honest assertion that they wanted none of his money Well, I ended up apologizing to him But then item six is 180 Recall back to Fred and I tell you there's no question about it Johnny The landlord woke up smelled the gas call the police emergency squad They arrived broke down the door and they're laying bed as night your dad is a door nail gas from that heater there in his bedroom The windows were still closed and locked so it couldn't have blown out and all those locks on the door locked So nobody else could possibly have gotten into the of Rome and turned on the gas in other words suicide Okay Fred up No wait now was anybody around there to see him after I left him Well when I talked with his niece Nancy trimmer Yeah, she told me she'd gone around to beg some money from him earlier He acted very strange friend and much to her surprise he gave her some money and then she left Then she did it What that was no suicide. She murdered him. No, Johnny That was long before he could have got the bed and turned on the gas Nobody else could possibly have done it any bets Meet me at the airport item 7 is 2640 for a cab and cocked field Plain fare back to Boston all because of those paperbacks that I'd seen strewn around her apartment Fred met me at Logan International. It was shortly after dawn and then a few minutes later What this mystery magazine? I saw when I came in here before Jack Johnstone writes for it now and then Johnstone The man who dramatizes all these cases of mine and here here's his story in it death by jet Listen you mind telling me what you're death by jet Nancy here didn't know that I'm a special investigator But my talk about her uncle's money. She'd get reminded her of this story. She figured this was the answer. So why waste time? Sure, go ahead tear it up. It's too late now. I'm afraid I still don't that story death by jet That means a gas jet huh another of those locked room mysteries and it gave her the idea for killing her uncle without getting caught Or so she thought you don't know what you're talking about But what kind of an idea in the basement of that dingy building where he lived She got in there and turned off the gas line to his apartment Then she went on upstairs to see him when he wasn't looking she opened the valve on that gas heater in the bedroom And then she left and waited until he had time to get to sleep. The whole procedure is in that story I get it when he was asleep. She went back to the basement right and Re-open the gas line and if we check I think we'll find she didn't have sense enough to wipe her fingerprints off that Bowel down there. Oh, yeah, well, that's where you're wrong because I did wipe them off I wiped them off so clean that neither you or any Yeah, call it police bread So it looks as though the boys will get the old man's fortune whether they want it or not and his insurance There were a lot of fine churches with money like that Expense account total call it. Oh Call it 70 bucks yours truly Johnny dollar But next week story next week Proof that a man's best-laid plans can really go awry Join us, won't you yours truly Johnny dollar is written by Jack Johnstown produced and directed by Bruno Zerato Jr. Musical supervision by Apple Huber heard in our cast were Edgar Staley as Mr. Gerson Terry Keane as Nancy Krimmer Ralph Camargo as Fred Briscoe John Thomas as Paul Richard Holland as Jerry Be sure to join us next week same time and station for another exciting story of yours truly Johnny dollar This is Art Hanna speaking a great many auto accidents are caused by excess speed You may be in a big hurry to get somewhere But that extra 10 or 15 miles per hour that you drive will only save you a few minutes at most and it may cost you your life


The U.S. Naval War College is a Navy's home of thought. Established in 1884, NWC has become the center of naval seapower, both strategically and intellectually. The following issues in national security lecture is specifically designed to offer scholarly lectures to all participants. We hope you enjoy this upcoming discussion and future lectures. Good afternoon and welcome to our seventh issues in national security lecture for academic year 22-23. I'm Commander Gary Ross and I'll serve as your host for today's event. Both Professor John Jackson and Radmal Shoshana Chaffield, president of the Naval War College are on a well-deserved vacation and I'm looking forward to hosting you here today. For anyone just joining us, this series was originally conceived as a way to share a portion of the Naval War College's academic experience with the spouses and significant others of our student body. Over the past five years it has been restructured to include participation by the entire Naval War College extended family to include members of the Naval War College Foundation, international sponsors, civilian employees, and colleagues throughout Naval Station Newport. We will be offering eight additional lectures between now and May 2023, spaced about two weeks apart on a variety of national security topics and issues. An announcement detailing the dates, topics, and speakers of each lecture will be sent by me both on email and posted on our website. Our next lecture will be on Tuesday, February 7th. We will be featuring an engaging discussion on homeland defense with military professor, Lieutenant Colonel Chahar Matisik. For each lecture, speakers will provide remarks for about 45 minutes and then for the remaining 15 minutes or so we'll answer questions from you. Okay, so on with the main event, please feel free to ask questions using the chat feature of Zoom and for those participating in the audience, please you'll be using your microphones and we will address those questions at the conclusion of the presentation. I am very pleased to introduce our speaker, Professor Hank Brightman, who will speak today about foreign humanitarian assistance and the interrelationship with strategic competition. The magnitude and complexity of recent disasters have dramatically altered the generally accepted roles for militaries engaged in international humanitarian response. Humanitarian civilian military coordination is increasingly at the forefront of natural disaster response in events such as earthquakes, floods, and hurricanes and typhoons. This lecture will discuss how and why coordination strategies are essential for protection of civilian populations, humanitarian organizations engaged in response, and militaries assigned to host nation stability operations. Special emphasis will be placed on the present day Russia-Ukraine conflict and how both the PRC and Russia differ in their delivery of humanitarian aid from the United States. He-Tank Brightman is the director and full professor in the civilian military humanitarian response program within the College of Maritime Operational Warfare and also serves as the EMC information chair at the U.S. Naval War College. From 2008 to 2016, he served as an associate professor, professor and director of applied research and analysis in the War Gaming Department. He is a captain in the Navy Reserve and the current commanding officer of Navy Information Operations Command, Georgia's Fort Dix Unit. In April 2023, he will be deploying to the Middle East in his military capacity to support Operation Inherent Resolve. I am pleased to pass the microphone over to Hank Brightman. Well, thank you Commander Ross. It's always great to be with you and thank you to everyone who's with us at home and of course here in person dodging various snowstorms before today and then apparently a little later on in the week. It's great to see our students from our elective series here today. Of course, a noted scholar, Brown global fellow, Johnny Robinson, who's here with us, his wife, Josie as well, and the rest of the leaders who are with us. So we are going to talk today about the issue of humanitarian response, specifically foreign humanitarian response within the context or container of strategic competition. What was formerly referred to as great power competition. Some of you may be familiar with that term as well. Of course, what I will share with you are my own thoughts, beliefs, opinions, not necessarily those of the U.S. government, the Naval War College or any other entity. That said, what's important to understand is that there's a reason why we're so focused today on foreign humanitarian assistance and a lot of it has to do with how the climate is indeed changing and how natural disasters have become a marker for much of what we deal with day to day in terms of our planning effort. And you can see from the slide here just what a substantial increase we have now because of climate change, because of some of the factors around the world that cause us to provide response in these kind of climactic conditions. But wait, of course, there's more. People have also started to move and what we've seen is much more of a movement towards the coast as waters rise, as sea levels rise. As the coasts become smaller, people become more densely compressed into those areas that you can see illustrated on the map here. We also have an increase in conflict and it's important to understand when we talk about foreign humanitarian assistance, we're talking about it through two lenses. Permissive environments, natural disasters, settings that many of us are familiar with, hurricanes, floods and earthquakes, but also with increasing prevalence, complex emergencies, those conflict settings where resource scarcity has led to intensity and conflict. And when you look at this particular graphic, you can see around the world some of those various conflicts, the darker the color, in some cases the more intense those particular conflicts are. If you're wondering why you're seeing any in the U.S., many of these were taken from some of the various conflicts in terms of protest and post-protest kinds of events that have occurred shootings and other tragedies within the United States as well, holistically during this period. For us, as military members, we tend to live in this slide that you see here specifically in this little arch where this hump moves from left to right and that's because what militaries provide is they provide a response capability like no one else can. We have strategic lift, we have planning excellence, we can get aid to a population in need and in the case and context of what we're discussing today those populations are outside the United States. We're not talking about what we refer to as DISCA, Defense Support for Civil Authority, which are those responses within the U.S. but rather outside the United States and that's where our need and our value really plays out because we have the ability to support those populations. What's always important to remember however is we're only there to provide that immediate life-saving support that's necessary in the moment because we have missions to perform as well. So while yes, we are a global force for good, we have our own missions, our own warfighting capabilities and strategies that are important to keep our nation safe to defend the homeland. So to do that our job is to go in, provide that support at the behest of the host nation that's necessary to help that population in need, to alleviate suffering and to help sustain human life and then to depart. Examples of that you may be familiar with include Haiti, the Philippines and Nepal where we've seen these kinds of response operations and you can see from the graphic here just how much of that involves lift, strategic assets, aircraft, ships, other large vessels that allow us to provide aid quickly to a population in need and then the smaller airframes and smaller types of equipment that allow us to get that to those remote areas where a population in fact needs that support. In all cases as you can see in this graphic our goal is to get in as I said provide that support and transition out so that we're back performing those warfighting missions which are at the crux of our responsibilities. Towards that end we actually have a joint publication that helps underscore everything that we do in our US military and that's called Joint Publication 3-29, Foreign Humanitarian Assistance and for us our focus tends to be on foreign disaster relief as a subset of foreign humanitarian assistance and as you can see here this has taken right out of the publication these are the kinds of things that we tend to respond to to support those populations in need off of US soil. Specifically we're looking at foreign disaster relief so we're looking at how do we provide that assistance how do we alleviate human suffering how do we provide support for that population in need and when we do that we always want to be thinking again how do we transition out how do we make sure we don't overstay our welcome and return to those various operations that support our warfighting mission. We have some ways that we do that within the United States that differ from our foreign partners and we'll talk about that for just a few minutes because the US does have its own system the system that we use is born through the US Agency for International Development or USAID and USAID has a Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance that Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance coordinates all of that aid delivery for us outside of US borders and you can see here the kinds of roles that they play in terms of coordinating those efforts funding those efforts which we'll talk more about in a few minutes providing direct support and personnel which we call DART teams disaster assistance response teams that are small teams that actually help coordinate that response on the ground what's important to remember about this is our system is different than some of our partners and we'll talk about that in just a few minutes. There are four specific criteria that the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance requires that we meet the first one there has to be a need if there's no need then there's no value in us supporting that particular operation the emphasis has to be on saving lives reducing human suffering mitigating the impact of emergencies and helping those vulnerable populations the third one and I'll foot stop this is we have to be invited in we are there at the behest of the host nation so unless the host nation invites us in we cannot provide we cannot render that aid to that population whoever dire the circumstances might be I like to think of the US and our other nations as well as vampires and much like the proverbial vampire the vampire cannot come into someone's house unless invited in so that host nation has to allow us in and yes much like the vampire if we overstay our welcome they can get out their garlic or other relics and throw us out anytime they choose to do that that's true for us and other actors who are responding to humanitarian crises so it's important to remember that and the fourth piece and this is a part that some folks wrestle with that particular mission that particular operation has to be some US strategic objective it has to be within the best interest of the United States based on our national security strategy for us to be there yes we do of course help those nations often that we're not even friendly with but there has to be a reason why we're there supporting that nation just a little more on that so you can see exactly how the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance at USAID coordinates with the Department of Defense we have robust activities and lines of operation that allow us to support in a way that is cohesive and coherent that's important because if we don't organize this correctly we can actually harm people and much like the Hippocratic Oath which says do no harm we want to do no harm when we respond to humanitarian crises so it's very important that we have a process moving from the Department of Defense through our geographic combatant commanders and our task forces that aligns with those civilian entities that provide that support as well and you can see that part of that support is not just providing mechanisms but providing stuff and this slide actually shows you on the left hand side where that stuff is located and that stuff are things like water bottles, plastic sheeting, food materials, other shelter materials that are necessary to support a population in need all around the world as you can see there are these various warehouses these warehouses are stocked and continuously refreshed with these kinds of materials now what you may be wondering is how does that stuff get to that population in need and how do we support that population in need as soon as that host nation invites us in says yes we need help immediately the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance USAID can write a check for a hundred thousand dollars now I know a lot of folks are probably saying a hundred thousand dollars hank my mortgage is more than that how can a hundred thousand dollars help a population in need it's because a lot of these contracting mechanisms have already been built that allow for materials to be loaded quickly their relationships with cargo companies and other delivery handling systems that allow for these materials to go from the warehouses to that population in need in quick order so that hundred thousand dollars actually goes quite a long way because of how these systems are organized and in addition to the stuff as I mentioned there are people and our geographic combatant commanders are co-located with these humanitarian assistance folks these assets who provide that support often working at the headquarters for those geographic combatant commanders so they can liaise provide support and of course also talk with the Department of State including the U.S. Ambassador who is assigned to that particular country because they obviously have a huge role on the ground and coordinating with the National Command Authority back in Washington all of this comes together in a document and if you're squinting at this document I feel your pain many of us who've lived with this document know that while it may be difficult to see it's critically important this is called a my-tam and a my-tam is a mission tasking matrix it's basically a spreadsheet and it's a very rudimentary spreadsheet there are no pivot tables and v-lookups or all those kinds of things that many of us who spend time working with excel may be familiar with this is very very simple what it allows is that Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance member that dark team member on the ground to help coordinate what needs to go where and what the best mechanism is to get it there because often that joint task force commander has a particular preference they may have a particular platform a ship or aircraft that they grew up with that they trained with and they tend to have a bias towards that but that dart representative may know about other assets or other equipment or other gear or materials that are more appropriate or located more closely to support that population in need so that dark coordinator will actually coordinate all of those capabilities make sure that the right platform based on the need the capability is brought to bear where it needs to go to accomplish that mission but wait there's more what this task force my-tam does rather for the task force is it allows us to track money expenditures that are made supporting a population in need and for the Department of Defense that's critically important because there's a reimbursement process for DoD for the fleet commanders or the geographic and back commanders at the end of the day so much like you would not want to go to dinner and be stuck with the bill if someone else had said they'd pay what this allows is for someone else to pay the bill meaning not the fleet commander or the geographic and back commander of the Department of Defense this goes through a State Department USAID process I mentioned this earlier but it's certainly worth repeating we cannot we will not ever respond to support a population without the express consent of the host nation they are the first responders they are the primary responders and until they give that consent not just to the U.S. but any other actor who might want to respond to support that population we just can't be there in addition to us there are other critical folks who help support humanitarian response and just to show you some of those different types of people we have those special organizations you may be familiar with the international committee of the Red Cross the Red Crescent the International Federation think of these as those large humanitarian organizations that provide support to vulnerable populations in need not just in permissive environments not just in floods earthquakes and natural disasters but also in conflict settings and war-torn countries even providing support to detainees to ensure that they get the resources they need or combatants to ensure that they get the resources they need in prisoner war camps so that role is critical and the Red Crosses play that role the international Red Crosses as opposed to the more regionalized local like American Red Cross that many of us may be familiar with in the U.S. then there are the U.N. agencies and for us the one that we deal with the most is the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs or OSHA we'll talk more about OSHA and the critical role that it plays in just a few minutes but you can see some of the other critical organizations World Food Program, World Health Organization I know during the COVID era which is still very much a thing but certainly different than it was a few years ago in terms of its propagation World Health Organization played a critical role in trying to fight that particular disease during the pandemic the High Commissioner on refugees importantly understanding that a refugee is someone who has left their geographic borders and moved to another nation whereas an IDP an internally displaced person is someone who remains within the geographic borders of that country so a little bit on them and then below them what many of us are familiar with which are the international NGOs so those organizations that will support populations in need around the world Medicine, San Fransier, World Vision, Care, Action Against Hunger these are just a few of the many international non-governmental organizations that exist many of whom have a specialization obviously MSF whereas we more commonly call it doctors without borders has a medical focus contrasted with other organizations like Team Rubicon which tend to be more logistics tend to be more surveying and support so it really depends on their area of expertise how they can best support that population in need and below them but most critically important are the local non-governmental organizations these are the organizations that are on the ground who generally already reside within the border of that particular affected state and have the resources to provide aid through networks, through contacts, through communications in many cases they built up through many many years so those local NGOs really are the base of the pyramid in terms of making sure aid is provided those non-governmental organizations whether they're international or local have core humanitarian principles that they follow and it's important as you read through these to understand that not all non-governmental organizations are humanitarian organizations for example some organizations have a political perspective they lobby for certain types of policies they probably wouldn't fall within these four specific parameters to be designated as a humanitarian NGO because they may not have that neutrality or that impartiality that you see here many of course do have humanity in fact our militaries I believe have humanity as well but that doesn't mean we're following these principles all four of these principles so that's important to understand these four principles are really critical to identifying an NGO to determine whether it's a humanitarian NGO or something else so how does it all come together well earlier I mentioned OCHA the UN office OCHA serves if you will as the catalyst to help coordinate various sectors of support those sectors of support come together in a model that we call the cluster system now I know a lot of us in the US military myself included cluster tends to have a different connotation but within the humanitarian world the cluster system represented here works very very efficaciously it's broken up by particular types of disciplines or areas of expertise it's self-selecting self-seeding if you will in terms of where those NGOs tend to live and they coordinate very well through a collaborative mechanism through that civilian military coordinator through that process of coming together along these various areas to provide for a population in need and believe it or not even though you don't see the kind of a top-down model for command and control that many of us in the military sitting are used to because these folks work together so much and coordinate across sectors it's a highly highly effective method for coming together to support a population in need now you'll notice that the military is not represented in this left-hand graphic that's because we're outside of the cluster system to maintain those humanitarian principles militaries are not part of that construct because if you're medicine some frontier doctors without borders as soon as you start actively engaging with militaries what does that do to your neutrality what does that do to you in terms of how you're perceived by populations that may not be friendly to that military maybe not even in that setting maybe in a conflict halfway around the world so it's important to maintain that independence maintain those boundaries from militaries and that's critical to their success that said we do work together through processes where we provide aid and we work together through processes to provide aid by working through the host nation the host nation again always being in charge helps identify which of these critical resources these critical capabilities you see on the right hand side then fit best to support that population in need so there are different ways that that aid can be delivered and sometimes when we teach this class or when we have a chance to learn together i'll bring boxes of cookies with me and the reason that i'll do that is i'll ask folks what is the best way to deliver aid is it to hand someone a cookie is it to have boxes of cookies that are loaded onto a truck and then distributed to that population or is it to be helping build roadways and other kinds of projects that then allow trucks to get to that population in need generally speaking that direct support that cookie isn't the best way for us to deliver aid because again the host nation is in charge so if we're just handing out cookies as a military to people in some cases we're countermanding that host nation or undermining its authority if we build bridges and we build roadways which are critically important those tend to be longer term reconstruction projects now we may do some emergency bridges and things like that with engineering teams or cbs but these larger reconstruction efforts that's not what we're there to do because that's not immediately providing life-saving support to that population that's vulnerable and in need those projects do exist they exist within us agency for international development in other reconstruction efforts outside of bha what we tend to do and where we tend to live as militaries is in truck providing that support providing that aid to that population by having pallets or boxes of cookies that we then hand to the host nation so they can deliver it or disperse it appropriately often working with the ngo is to deliver that aid so you can see these different models and how they can come together and why truck again because we're there based on a U.S. interest to support that population need through the host nation truck tends to be our best approach for that just to kind of some summarize how all that comes together you can see here that big red bubble of the affected state the military is going to work through that coordination process that I mentioned you can see how there are different lines of effort that come together as we could coordinate through the clusters and how the international community interfaces with us as well so all of these things happen in a synchronistic way we practice this we have mechanisms for this like Pacific partnership where some folks may be familiar within here we practice with foreign militaries so that we can come together to provide this aid together and we of course do this many times each year that said remember that it's not just militaries who provide humanitarian aid there are other elements of the U.S. Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development that provide aid as well and in fact the military is a smaller percentage of that overall aid delivery than other assets within the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance and the U.S. Agency for International Development at large I want to take a few minutes and just talk about how the U.S.'s model how we deliver aid differs from some of our strategic peer or near peer competitors and shout out to Mr. Johnny Robinson our Brown Global Fellow who I have the opportunity to work with each and every day and I feel truly blessed for that who's done much of this research so that can be with us here today what China PRC does very well is exploits opportunities and whereas for the U.S. our approach is always to make sure that the host nation is kept us the face of an operation which often means using that truck approach that I mentioned China PRC tends to follow that cookie model where even though it's a less efficacious way of delivering aid they want the photo op they want the picture to be taken they want to create the appearance of large-scale aid delivery and you can see some of the ways that they do that here by evacuating citizens by providing training by providing vaccine diplomacy which I'll talk more about in a second token aid delivery so often very little aid but strategically photographed in ways that appears that large amounts of aid are actually being delivered to a population in need because we're doing it all behind the scenes they're doing this smaller yet more photogenic aid delivery in a way that differs from ours so they do have some resources for that and they do use those resources but up to this point PRC has only done this within permissive environments not in conflict settings which is another distinguishing characteristic of PRC staying out of if you will the political foray of conflict contrast that if you will with Russia and the way that Russia delivers aid what I always like to show on this slide because it's striking in how bizarre it may seem to many of us is this cultural exchange piece with a Bolshoi ballet that you see here Russia very much considers any type of cultural exchange humanitarian aid so if the ballet comes to a particular country that's humanitarian aid in the view of Russia they do a lot of firefighting and they do it quite well mostly wildland firefighting and they provided a lot of support around the world in terms of wildland firefighting they're getting very good at that and it's a way for them to bolster their image again outside of conflicts by providing this support search and rescue you can see how they provide support there as well training as you saw with PRC and token aid delivery what differs with China versus Russia PRC versus Russia is that the aid delivery that PRC delivers is strategic it's well photographed even if it's token Russia tends to deliver aid but they're not as good at getting the messaging out there of the aid that they're delivering they don't have as good a strategic communications message as PRC does and often that aid doesn't really exist so you look at that bag there and and Johnny can talk to this too this actually is a picture from Syria and inside that bag I believe is an expired can of tuna fish and a couple other small items that really I think a bag of flour and maybe some sugar but very little aid that's actually a value to a population in need but it's in a really nice bag right so it kind of creates that appearance they also provide vaccines and I said I'd come back to PRC and the reason I will is the aid that they deliver both from Russia and from the PRC in terms of vaccines is not free and this is something people don't understand so when the US provided mass doses of COVID-19 vaccines around the world they provided them period here's your vaccine we hope that your population will thrive and survive both PRC and Russia will provide vaccines for a cost and if you don't have the money no worries particularly in the case of PRC just sign this document and eventually down the road we'll figure out a way to come to a place of consensus and often that consensus is through access to a port or to a resource rare earth materials you may be signing those away in some cases so what PRC vis-a-vis their Belt and Road initiative has gotten very very good at is creating strategic access points and resource opportunities for themselves through the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines Russia to a certain extent as well what's important to remember of course is the efficacy rate of both of those countries in terms of their vaccines is incredibly low compared to the US based and other western nation based vaccines what both countries do well is use disinformation so well Russia may not be good at the photo op in the way that the PRC is both the PRC and Russia are incredibly good at the way they use disinformation the example you can see here when you look at this graphic about who gives the most aid to Serbia who actually gave the most aid to Serbia was the EU by a large percentage but look at that how that contrasts with what the public thought in this particular graphic similarly if you spend any time in Africa and you talk to people in Africa today many of them blame the US for the rising price of wheat because in direct quote it's the US's fall for causing the invasion of Ukraine so this misinformation or disinformation campaign is a very real challenge that we face and bluntly something in my opinion we're not as good at countering the strategic messaging piece is something that both PRC and Russia do much better and they use their aid delivery as the vehicle to help rise them in that strategic communications context and they do that also because they don't worry about keeping the host nation necessarily as a face of that operation so it's this tension that we continue to have I want to spend just a minute or two talking specifically about Ukraine and Ukraine operations I had a chance in March to spend a little bit of time over in Navier in Italy in Naples with Six Flee looking at some of the resourcing for humanitarian operations in Ukraine and obviously a lot of concern about Ukraine a lot of that concern initially was that people in Ukraine who were displaced internally displaced persons would leave their geographic boundary again become refugees moved to Poland and never come back weirdly the conventional wisdom has been wrong for the most part and that many of those folks who have gone to Poland have come back to the Ukraine but of course come back to what there isn't a lot in many of these areas left and the need for aid is dire now while the US is providing some of that humanitarian aid they're probably not providing as much of it as they are other types of aid such as military aid to support the current conflict against the Russians what's concerning for many of us in the humanitarian sector for this is who will fill that void particularly post-conflict so let's imagine if you will after some period of time the conflict in Ukraine dies down Russia has annexed some portion of the country Ukraine remains whole in some some type of a way who provides for that's population in need and again world according to Hank my concern would be the PRC because now it's no longer a conflict setting PRC figures out a way to provide that aid and by providing that aid now has created access points in a part of the world that they no longer have to worry about having that resource and resourcing and accessing in a way that requires military use in a way that is currently perceived so these are the challenges that we have as we think about a post-conflict Ukraine and what that might look like and that's important to understand Russia also purportedly provides aid humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people I say purportedly because again my dear colleague Johnny Robinson ran a lot of the numbers because we were perplexed looking at the percentage of aid that Russia was allegedly giving to Ukraine we couldn't understand why the numbers were so high so we spent some time looking at them we figured it out well Johnny figured it out he's much smarter than me and what we figured out is that the reason those numbers were so high is that Russia was counting feeding its own troops who are in the Ukraine as part of that humanitarian aid delivery well I know I've been in the Navy now 19 years I haven't missed many meals but they certainly don't count feeding me as part of their humanitarian mission in the U.S. and again this is one of the things that you have to understand about how Russia strategically is able to use information in ways that we are not much like the PRC so what does all this mean why does all this matter why do we care about all this because if we do this right we deliver aid to support that population in need if we help the host nation be all that it needs to be to support its population it can meet key U.S. strategic objectives and it can also allow us opportunities particularly in permissive environments to exercise with our partners to develop that confidence should we have to move from our current competition phase into conflict to allow us to work together to know each other's airframes capabilities different types of ships and platforms that we have available so that we can work together it gives those operators experience running those platforms to be glad well asked 10,000 hours is 10,000 hours whether you're flying helicopters in a permissive environment like a hurricane or you're flying them in a combat condition so the more our operators get that experience doing it in a way that of course is safe and appropriate given the mission and conditions the better off we all are if we do it right we cause no harm and often we talk about a 1950s standard of care when we talk about humanitarian response because the last thing we would want is to provide for example medical care of the highest most sophisticated state to that population only to leave and then have that population questing its own medical infrastructure its own ability to provide for healthcare so we try and ascribe to the appropriate level of care for that population to make sure that we're doing no harm light footprint there's a big difference between being perceived as supportive and being perceived as an occupying force which also means leaving and transitioning out as quickly as you can so that you can return to your mission your war fighting missions if you're a military entity so that we're not depleting ourselves of those opportunities for power as well and then last but not least don't hesitate to use those mill mill relationships to save lives yes i've talked a lot about how we work through the host nation how we try and use that truck model that indirect aid model whenever possible but that doesn't mean we don't do the right thing it's it's not all pragmatic there's a level of appropriate idealism supporting a population in need as well and that's a big part of what we do within the humanitarian environment the last thing i wanted to share is our library guide so we actually have an amazing resource thanks to its original architect britney card who's now with bha usa id and currently managed brilliantly again by mr john robinson our library guide has all the resources that connected this presentation today scholarly papers lots of videos and resources across the entire landscape from permissive environments into conflict even into medical things such as cova 19 so highly encourage you to take a look at our library guide available off the naval war college page and i am happy to answer any questions you may have of course from our audience who came with us today or in the world of cyberspace as well so thank you very much and very much looking forward to your questions and having the opportunity to learn from you and with you people in zoom can hear uh yes i'm captain para skevopoulos from the helenic navy i actually have two questions if i may uh the first one is about the fourth prerequisite that you mentioned in order for the us to provide help and i was wondering if there is an available example that you can tell us regarding a case that finally the u.s didn't provide any help because of that and the second question or remark if you like is about the role of ngo's and specifically the local ones which in my country lately there has been a considerable consideration regarding their role there are too many and it seems that some of them the only reason for existence is to attract funding and also some of them are also uh responsible for human trafficking so if this is any kind of your consideration or not thank you right now great questions and thank you so much for being here today and if i may i'll start with the second one first there are many many entities that purport themselves to be non-governmental organizations assuredly any ngo that traffics and human beings is not meeting those humanitarian principles so it certainly is not the humanitarian ngo that said your point is very well taken hady is the classic example of where many well-meaning people came together very very quickly after the hady earthquake to try and help so a lot of church groups other folks got together and self declared themselves as ngo's showed up in hady in port-a-prince and other parts of the country and said hi i'm from hanks ngo i'm here with my my two colleagues where do we take a shower where do we eat where do we sleep only to be told we have none of those resources for you you're supposed to be helping us with that and now you're actually creating a drain on us by not having the resources you need to be self-sustaining to operate again according to those principles that allow you to have that independence so a lot of people claim to be ngo's that aren't necessarily ngo's there are all kinds of rules around that prohibit us from collecting any kind of intelligence or similar kinds of information on a population in need that let's be honest because russia this is a real issue will sometimes claim to have an ngo which is really an intelligence collection apparatus that can do more harm than good for targeting and things like that to support their missions so the second question is relatively easy to answer the first one isn't as easy to answer because it's almost like trying to prove a negative in that the places we haven't been we haven't been there is a large calculus that goes into that based on the national security strategy that sometimes may surprise you for example we've offered assistance in earthquakes in iran very rarely is it accepted but sometimes it is we offered assistance in indonesia after bandha at a time when in the post-911 era there was a lot of discussion and conversation about should we be providing that kind of support for that part of the world given all the things that al qaeda is doing and the u.s. government looked at it and said huh the population desperately needs us it's in our best interest to show that the u.s. is a caring people that cares about our neighbors and partners and even those who we may disagree with and that ultimately led to far more robust relationships than we had in the past with indonesia we now engage often in training and humanitarian operations with including an entire series of activities and exercises so the reality is it can be done but it's a very complex process to determine how that will be done both excellent questions and thank you any other questions yes different comment to mean the from shillanka so during the presentation you are mentioning about the military to military coordination like for instance if you go to some other country then maybe during the process of assistance it may helpful to work with some non-set of people like work with hand-to-hand so in that case combined training beforehand would be beneficial I guess so I know that you are conducting training but I would like to know the present situation like how you train or else combine kind of operations in the present situation and if you have some future plans like to enhance this kind of training hdr training with the other countries so the percentage if I understand a question right just to make sure I do the percentage of humanitarian aid delivery in Ukraine contrasting with other operations we've engaged in is that kind of what you're asking me am I getting that right no I'm asking about the training the training okay so the training piece of it that's something I can't answer because we have a substantial amount of training available through the U.S. not just for our U.S. military members but to support our multinational partners as well for example the j-hawk course the joint humanitarian operations course which shameless plug will be conducting here at the naval war college the week of the 6th through the 10th of March through USAID that training is available around the world using the dart teams as part of that training element to support militaries and other organizations that want to provide that kind of support we also have something called marhast which is our maritime humanitarian assistance survey team which is a training module that's part of the haste the humanitarian assistance survey team because often what will happen is even before a country invites us in we're there right and and we're ready to do port surveys and aerial surveys and runway surveys to ensure that we can get those resources in to provide support for that population in need so we do training around this in fact we have training around this here and in hawaii a little later on this year because of pacific partnership we'll be training multinational forces in that so a substantial percentage of our time is engaged in training as opposed to on the ground work that we're actually doing and we do most of that free of charge it's actually something that's important for us as we develop our capability set as planners so that's a big part of what we do and the planning courses we run here at the war college if you're in my part of the world the college of maritime operational warfare we have courses that focus exclusively on planning mobsi and msock as our two kind of primary examples of that and i am sock on the international side with our partners in the international programs office all of those programs have a humanitarian element to them so they can lean into training for forces to plan in humanitarian operations so hopefully that helps answer some of that thank you other questions from the audience we do have some questions on zoom great the first question that came in has to do with funding how does the federal government the u.s federal government determine who and what department in the federal government pays for the assistance and then if it's if it's a do d effort for some portion of it how does the combatant commander determine you know under what title those military operations are funded yeah great questions first of all do d aid as a percentage of rural aid is a very small percentage and i often will show a graphic where we show just what a small percentage of aid the do d element is compared to the rest of the u.s government the rest of the u.s government being predominantly u.s agency for international development including some of those larger reconstruction or bridge projects to use a cloak wheel as well as the department of state we're a small percentage of that when do d does operate in support of a crisis a humanitarian need we do that with the expectation that using that my tam process that i showed earlier there will be reimbursement the do d will be made whole so that that commander is in actually expending long term their own funds they may have to put those resources up front by using that my tam process to track reimbursement that's appropriate for that particular geographic combatant commander all right thank you the next question is how do you manage or how does a do d manage the accountability of aid delivered and they further describe that they've heard that supplies often do not get to those in need such as in Puerto Rico just a couple of years ago yeah so great question and there are multiple parts to that question in the other role that i have at the war college in addition to the role as the director of the civilian military humanitarian response program i'm also the emc informationist chair which focuses specifically on corruption and corruption control and mitigation strategies so we often get asked this question from the department of defense perspective what we have when we provide aid our inspector generals or the department of defense for our specific services and us agency for international development has its own inspector general as well which is not just looking for waste fraud and abuse in our programs but in the delivery of aid as well so there's a process where that's assessed and tracked there are 1811 special agents who actually do that kind of criminal work to investigate that from a law enforcement title 18 perspective as well as more from an auditing perspective that said the delivery of aid from humanitarian organizations is more often than not where we get asked this question so what happens is we get asked for example if you're using a stored value card basically a smart card that now has a cash value that you're giving to a population in need because there are enough resources for them to procure using those cards what they need in the area how do we know those cards are being used appropriately how is that aid being delivered efficaciously the answer is for most humanitarian organizations they don't care about that what they care about is is aid being delivered to a population in need and if that means that that local NGO is going to use black markets or other mechanisms to expeditiously get that aid delivered then that's what they're going to do they don't have that same kind of a waste fraud and abuse inspector general of 1978 model that we do because it's time is really the enemy they're trying to deliver aid as as quickly as they can to that population that said weirdly those stored value cards tend to be used correctly so as much as people think there might be a lot of fraud in the use of those cards there generally isn't as much as people might think all right and one final question does us aid reimburse duty for humanitarian assistance and is it reimbursed for all expenses and is this change if there was one a relatively recent development so the answer is as long as the dart team is engaged that disaster assistance response team is engaged through the Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance and the my tam that mission tasking matrix is appropriately used to track those expenses DoD will be reimbursed if they don't then the commander may be on the on the hook for it and I'll give you a quick anecdote in one particular fleet there was a crisis that occurred a natural disaster occurred the fleet commander said I want you to get folks there to help this population in need spare no expense so crews gone underway delivered aid helped alleviate human suffering and then a bill came due and the fleet commander said well at least we have the my tam and bha for reimbursement and there were lots of crickets chirping because that process had not been followed which then cost that fleet commander millions of dollars in terms of of a loss of reimbursement mostly commanders don't have a lot of extra cash laying around it's one of the reasons we have this j-hawk course the joint humanitarian operations course and the other courses we run to help to get people to understand just how critical that my tam process is for reimbursement any other questions in the audience otherwise we'll close it out all right with that thank you everyone thank you professor breiman for a very informative and enlightening lecture tonight we certainly appreciate you providing this lecture to us on a Tuesday afternoon late in the day and best of luck on your future assignment overseas thank you commander thank you everyone for attending


In the lower Iowati delta of Myanmar, flooding is a recurring problem during the wet season. These townships are also prone to salt intrusion throughout the dry season and during the early stages of the wet season. Rice farmers in these areas mostly grow traditional low-yielding varieties. Some traditional varieties are preferred because of their taste and aroma. New high-yielding short duration varieties are usually not available and so farmers have limited options to combat flooding or saline intrusion. In some villages, the long duration of these traditional varieties and the high salt content in the soil prevent farmers from planting more than one rice crop a year. Other villages have access to fresh water all year and grow two crops of rice annually. The International Rice Research Institute or IRI has been working with Myanmar's Department of Agricultural Research, Department of Agriculture and non-government organizations to provide new options for rice production along the coastal areas of the Iowati delta. To introduce high-yielding varieties for the favorable areas and stress-tolerant varieties for the salt and flood prone areas, farmers were encouraged to join trials on participatory varietal selection or PVS. Farmers became involved in testing rice varieties in their own fields and selecting those with traits that they preferred the most. Participatory varietal selection is a simple way for breeders, agronomists and extension staff to learn which varieties will be adapted better and faster under farmers' conditions. Conventional breeding programs test varieties in research stations which do not represent farmers' fields. Also, varietal release systems prioritize grain yield while farmers often look for other traits when choosing varieties. PVS trials include formal steps in which farmers share their opinions and preferences about the rice varieties being evaluated. The first phase starts with a researcher managed or mothered trial. 12 to 15 varieties that have been approved for release at the national level or are about to be released are compared with local varieties. Managed by researchers, the trials are repeated within a farmer's field or over fields at different sites. The next step is preference analysis. Here, farmers, agricultural extension staff and researchers go to the field and choose the top three or four rice genotypes and varieties that they observe to perform well and that can be suitable to farmers' own conditions and needs. Once the selected top varieties are harvested, dried, and milled, their eating and cooking qualities are assessed through sensory evaluation. Results of the preference analysis and sensory evaluation and grain yield are used to identify the best performing and most suitable varieties in the area. The top three or four varieties are then recommended for seed multiplication by the Department of Agricultural Research or DAR and other seed producers. The seeds that will be produced by DAR are used by a selected number of farmers in the next phase of the PVS, the Farmer Managed or Baby Trials. In these trials, farmers receive 5 to 10 kilograms of seeds of 1 to 3 new selected varieties. They will plant them in larger plots in their fields along with their own varieties for comparison. Farmers themselves test the genotypes or varieties in their own fields using their resources and management practices. After harvesting, farmers compare the average yield of the new varieties with that of their own varieties. They then choose 1 to 2 varieties that they like the most and are suitable to their conditions. To sustain the availability of quality seeds in the community, selected farmers will produce seeds in their farms with technical guidance from project staff. Results of the baby trials will be the basis for which varieties will be recommended for seed production, as sources for commercial planting by a larger number of farmers in target villages. However, only released varieties will be commercially produced by DAR and other accredited seed producers. Some of the farmers from Labuta Township, a region that experiences saltwater intrusion and floods, share their insights and experiences on participatory varietal selection. They were all interested and excited when they heard that BVS trials were going to be conducted in their fields. Since our fields are in the saline zone, I was very excited and happy to hear that there are rice varieties that are resistant to salinity. If the trials are successful, we can cultivate two crops per year instead of one. And that is why I happily participated in the trial. So Mo Chau preferred one variety that had full grains and outlasted all the other varieties despite the highly saline condition of his field. He and Mansan Nguyen both realized that these varieties could survive if planted earlier in the next season. Meanwhile, Kin Machi preferred three varieties. They had high yields and very good tillering. They were very fragrant and had good taste and eating quality. Other traits that farmers usually watched out for were tolerance for saltwater or floods, early maturity, resistance against pests and diseases, uniform plant height, more grains per panicle, and their preferred grain shape. As for cooked rice, farmers often looked for good taste, white color, aroma, a glossy finish, and depending on their personal preference, cohesiveness. Aside from discovering new varieties, the farmers also learned what best practices to use in growing their crop through the PVS trials. From my point of view, after working closely with Erie, I think farmers should be interested in joining PVS trials. I learned that instead of using old traditional varieties, we should start using high yielding varieties. And instead of planting randomly, we should plant in rows that will help increase yield. Farmers can get more income that way. So I think all farmers should participate in PVS. Previously, Suu did not follow a specific rate for fertilizer application and only copied the practices of other farmers. Through the PVS trials, he, along with Kin Ma Chi and Man San Win, learned how to apply the right amount of fertilizer at the right time. He also came to appreciate the benefits of direct seeding, which is the method of growing rice used in PVS plots. He says that it is good for wheat control and sunlight can pass through easily, which is good for the crop. The farmers also found out about proper wheat control practices and judicious use of herbicides. Though these farmers have only experienced one PVS trial at this point, they are excited to see the benefits from this activity. Kin Ma Chi says that other farmers became interested in the trials and would like to plant new varieties. The benefits of participatory varietal selection, or PVS trials, have now spread to neighboring villages, reaching more farmers and improving their food security and livelihood with higher yielding and stress tolerant rice varieties of their choice.


The question is that motion 6459, in the name of Shona Robison, on gender recognition reform Scotland Bill, at stage 1, be agreed. Members should cast their votes now. The vote is closed. Point of order, Richard Leonard. My app wasn't working. I would have voted yes. Thank you, we'll ensure that's recorded. The result of the vote on motion 6459, in the name of Shona Robison, is yes, 88, no, 33, there were four abstentions, the motion is therefore agreed. That concludes decision time and I close this meeting.