Adam B. Lowther
Description:
When the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) was released in February<br />of 2006, the United States was in the middle of a multi-front Global War on Terror<br />(GWOT) that had been underway for more than four years. Beginning with the<br />initial response to the 9/11 attacks in October of 2001, the US Navy began to play a<br />significant part in the unconventional operations that characterised the early days of<br />OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM. While the Navy carried out its mission<br />admirably supporting Special Operations Forces (SOF) by providing the USS Kitty<br />Hawk (CV 63) as a “lily pad”, which enabled Rangers, Delta operators, Green<br />Berets, and SEALs to move in and out of Afghanistan from a maritime staging area,<br />it was a role well outside the norm of American naval operations and one the Navy<br />is yet to fully embrace.