Editor's note: Earlier today (Monday, 06 April 2009) IWP.edu reported that Mr Dolbow will begin blogging immediately from USNS Comfort. Due to scheduling problems, his writing has been postponed. We regret this error and any inconvenience it may have caused.
Jim Dolbow (pictured at left on the bridge of a US Navy ship), a candidate for an MA in Statecraft and World Politics at IWP, will shortly begin a brief stint blogging aboard USNS Comfort, a US Navy hospital ship that has begun Operation Continuing Promise 09.
Mr. Dolbow, a US Coast Guard Reserve officer and former Capitol Hill defense staffer, is well known for his writings on matters of diplomacy and naval power. (Examples of some of Mr. Dolbow's work may be found via IWP.edu here and here.) His notes from the Comfort will appear on the US Naval Institute Blog, to which he is a regular guest contributor. In addition to his studies at IWP, Mr. Dolbow holds an MA from the US Naval War College.
Mr. Dolbow remarks, "I was inspired to volunteer and blog about this mission by my IWP education. Comfort's mission is all about using the other instruments of power, and I will be putting my education to good use asking the right questions and documenting it on video and film."
Operation Continuing Promise 09 is scheduled to include port visits in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Antigua, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, and Nicaragua. In addition to providing first-class medical and other humanitarian aid via the impressive facilities aboard the Comfort, the operation demonstrates continuing US commitment and support to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Below: USNS Comfort.
