Frank E Hopkins

Engagement Techniques in Sub-Saharan Africa Frank E Hopkins

Publisher Marketing: During a staff meeting at United States European Command (USEUCOM), while General James L. Jones was the USEUCOM commander, he said "Engineers are the maneuver force for Phase Zero operations." In this paper, I will argue why engineers should be the main effort in sub-Saharan Africa during Phase Zero operations and discuss why religious extremism is attractive to poor impoverished countries, specifically the rural areas, and how this affects operations and planning in accordance with the National Defense Strategy. The researcher will explore the number of missions that engineers have done in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) over the last four years versus the need for these missions. The researcher argues that engineers cannot be the maneuver force during Phase Zero operations in SSA because AFRICOM has not created the proper programs to enable engineers to get into theater, and it does not possess the structure within its organization to take on this task. AFRICOM does have regional engineers; however, it is not able to conduct complex operations. The researcher will look at the availability of engineers that can be utilized and the available methods that military engineers could utilize to get into the sub-Saharan countries under the guidance of the Geographic Combatant Command (GCC) and Service Component Command (ASCC). The researcher will (a) look at the alternatives to not using military engineers and maintain the status quo; (b) explore what can happen when military engineers and the GOTUS invest in people; and, (c) determine how it correlates to the National Defense Strategy (NDS). The underlying issue is the question why religious extremism attractive. Contributor Bio:  Hopkins, Frank E Frank E Hopkins was born in Boston, MA, and contracted the lifetime malady of being a Red Sox fan. 2013 was a great year, but 2014 will be soon forgotten. Frank E Hopkins lived in Queens and Long Island, New York while attending Hofstra University in the 1960s, the location and time period of Unplanned Choices. He became involved in writing while earning his Ph. D. in Economics from the University of Maryland. He held the tenured position of Associate Professor at the State University of New York at Binghamton in the 1970s, where he published numerous referred journal articles and a monograph on industrial location. He continued technical writing while working at the Department of Energy in the late 1970s and as a government and business development consultant since 1980. He moved to Ocean View DE in 2001 where as a consultant he managed or participated in writing proposals in response to Federal Government solicitations, the background for The Opportunity. Frank is active in the Rehoboth Bay Writers Guild, where he takes writing courses, and the Eastern Shore Writers Association, where he participates in its Salisbury Writers Critique Group. In addition to writing he plays golf and tennis, sails on the Chesapeake Bay, skis, travels and enjoys the ocean and inland bays of southern Delaware.