From 1991 in northern Iraq through to today in Helmand Province, the secret of a successful CIMIC operation has been how well the players worked as a team. The military generally knows what it has to do, the Commander’s Intent. How they get there is always a dynamic process, depending on the changing political environment and the actions of those who would thwart them. INGOs and NGOs too, normally have a pretty clear idea of what they intend to do and although they aim at impartiality, neutrality and independence their very presence shapes day to day events and the endgame. To achieve a common goal, the end of conflict, suffering and a return to normalcy, all parties have to know each other, know what that endgame is and how each team member intends to contribute. They have to know each others strengths and weaknesses, cultures and customs. Above all they have to trust each other, more often than not with their lives.

If, through projects such as the routine HA missions of the MERCY,COMFORT and 'grey-hulls', and focused interagency training courses, like the Army’s at Ft Polk, we could begin this process of understanding and building trust, this might shorten the time and ease the difficulties in establishing future CIMIC structures. We might, in turn, go into the next crisis better prepared and more rapidly produce a favorable outcome

This is my most defensible justification for 'Health Diplomacy' missions; in the manner Project HOPE and other NGOs are conducting them with the military, particularly the Navy. Both are developing and encouraging an ever closer relationship. The aim: to build a bridge, intellectual, institutional and above all cultural, between two organizations which as Hugo Slim says 'represent two sides of the same coin'.