1. A mobile ad hoc network comprising: a plurality of mobile nodes comprising a source node, a destination node, and a plurality of intermediate nodes therebetween configured to establish a main communications path and at least one alternative communication path thereby defining a multipath communication pathway between said source node and said destination node; at least one of said intermediate nodes comprising a controller and a wireless transceiver cooperating therewith to monitor link quality to neighboring nodes, locally determine at least one link from the at least one alternative communication path using at least one standby node within a 1-hop distance of the at least one intermediate node, and to reconfigure the main communication path to include the at least one link from the at least one alternative communication path based upon the monitored link quality and without global network knowledge from the source node.