ABSTRACT
The issue is what more the Navy can do without losing its capability to fulfill its traditional roles and missions. Admiral Mullen was clear that the Navy needs to develop Stability, Security, Transition, and Reconstruction (SSTR) capabilities, saying that “[t]o be effective in this environment, combatant commanders require tools that are not only instruments of war, but implements for stability, security, and reconstruction in our global neighborhood.”4 This chapter focuses on ways that the U.S. Navy could support the U.S. Marine Corps in SSTR operations. It offers some innovative suggestions as to how the Navy can do this without detracting from its many sea-based missions. The chapter does not suggest that the Navy should develop a major land-based capability that would entail a new, and fundamentally radical, SSTR mission for the Navy. Instead, the suggestions offered are informed by the philosophy of E. F. Schumacher, who in his 1973 book, Small Is Beautiful, argued that the usual practice in seeking the best solutions is to favor complexity and quality, “when simplicity and fit-for-purpose are optimal.”5 The aim here is to identify some comparatively simple ways that the Navy can undertake to support and complement the Marine Corps in SSTR without significantly detracting from its capability to conduct its traditional blue-water roles and missions.
