Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 62

interdiction in his area of responsibility could be supplied by simple assets:
“So as I said, I don’t need a warship. I
need a ship, something that floats, with
a helicopter.”32 A modularized auxiliary cruiser could provide that, and
much more. The twenty-first century
AFRICOM Queen does not need to be
sleek or shiny to carry out the many
missions USAFRICOM must conduct.
Modularized auxiliary cruisers can
provide the platforms to cope with the
tyrannies of distance and budgets that
challenge our ability to shape the security environment in Africa.

Biography
Brian J. Dunn holds an AB in
political science and history from
the University of Michigan and
an MA in history from Eastern
Michigan University. He retired
in 2010 from his job as a nonpartisan research analyst for the
Michigan State Legislature, and
he served in the Michigan Army
National Guard for six years. He
has published in Army magazine,
Joint Force Quarterly, Military
Review, and other publications,
and writes about defense and national security issues for his online
journal, The Dignified Rant.

(Photo by Staff Sgt. Brian Kimball, U.S. Air Force)

Cpl. Shawn Jouthe, a military policeman with the 93rd Military Police Battalion,
explains a tactical movement procedure to members of the Zambian Defense Force
10 August 2015 during exercise Southern Accord 2 015 in Lusaka, Zambia. The annual exercise provides U.S. military, United Nations allies, and the Zambian Defense
Force an opportunity to train together as a combined joint peacekeeping force.

Notes
1. James Stavridis, “Incoming: Floating Bases Are an Old Idea
Whose Time May Have Come Again,” Signal online magazine (AFCEA [Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association]
International), 1 June 2015, accessed 1 March 2016, http://www.
afcea.org/content/?q=Article-incoming-floating-bases-are-oldidea-whose-time-may-have-come-again.
60

2. U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM), “AFRICOM Command Brief,” (slide presentation, 22 October 2014), 5, accessed 1
March 2016, http://www.africom.mil/newsroom/document/23774/
africom-command-brief-2014.
3. Milady Ortiz, U.S. Africa Command: A New Way of
Thinking, National Security Watch report no. 08-1 (Arlington,
May-June 2016  MILITARY REVIEW