JHK

GFS seems to be a means to undertaking "Shaping" missions - humanitarian, human intel, etc., a grab bag of stuff other than what people are now calling "kinetic" war - largely connected to the GWOT.

For these sorts of missions, as the Special Forces always say "Humans are more important than hardware."

For a GFS, the training, experience, and education of the sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, etc. involved is about 1000 times more important than the nature of the vessel that the GFS is embarked on - requires MASSIVE amounts of language skill, civil affairs guys (NECC is standing up one small Naval Civil Affairs Group right now) etc.

I sort of got a chuckle seeing this thread immediately descend into discussing the arcane technical details of possible GFS ships - not that that issue isn't of any importance (long term, I think the answer may be converted small container ships or Offshore Service Vessels) it's just so typical of the "technology is the answer to everything" mindset.