While the U.S. military was one of many participants, its role was one of rapid response to provide initial relief while other organizations and countries organized their assets for the overall relief effort. Immediate relief of suffering was paramount. This mission orientation was a key planning tenet. 

Rapid response planning to known and unknown missions is practiced by all services to ensure each is able to provide immediate response to a crisis. A logistics needs assessment ensures provision of the right stuff, at the right time, at the right location. The needs assessment directly measures what is required in the affected area covering the range of functional areas: engineering construction, utilities, medical, food, water, transportation, distribution, coordination, and security.

The military's forward presence in the region plus the comprehensive logistics capacity it possesses made it the most effective initial reaction force. A unique nuance of this relief effort was that the political climate of each nation dictated particular requirements for disaster relief as well as coordination with United Nations organizations. 

Assets of Unified Assistance

The combined assets of each of the U.S. military services in the region resulted in a massive logistics capacity available for relief efforts within 7 days.  Assets employed in the region included:

17 Navy ships, to include an aircraft carrier and a Coast Guard cutter;
Maritime prepositioned ships loaded with supplies to include food, medical and construction materials;USNS Mercy, a floating trauma center with the capacity to house up to 1,000 hospitalized patients. Mercy's personnel conducted a wide range of medical and dental assistance programs ashore and afloat, performing 19,512 medical procedures, including 285 surgeries;USS Fort McHenry, a dock landing ship that left Sasebo, Japan, Jan. 2, delivered more than 1.2 million pounds of water, food items and clothes;Hundreds of Marine Corps engineers and Navy Seabees helped Sri Lankans repair infrastructure and clear debris;Army engineers deployed to Thailand to help rebuild roads, bridges and power infrastructure;Over 70 reconnaissance flights assessed damage, resulting in roughly 570 hours flying time;More than 1,300 fixed-wing aircraft flights resulted in more than 4,635 hours of flying time;More than 2,200 helicopter flights resulted in more than 4,870 hours of flying time.In all, U.S. Pacific Command assets managed or coordinated delivery of more than 24 million pounds of relief supplies and equipment into the region by Feb. 14, when Combined Support Force 536 ceased operations.

Because of the massive coordination effort required between the military and civilian agencies, the Combined Support Force units actually relied primarily on cell phones and e-mail for much of its connectivity and communications.  Coordination of aircraft and ships still required the use of military communications channels.