standards, which called for definitions of military terminology to be clear, concise, and complete.3
Joint Publication (JP) 1-02, Department of Defense
Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, currently
defines Civil Affairs as “designated Active and Reserve component forces and units organized, trained, and
equipped specifically to conduct Civil Affairs operations
(formerly, activities) and to support civil-military operations. Also called CA.”4 Although this definition has
been the accepted one for at least the last 15 years, it
is awkwardly constructed, contains an obvious circular error, and fails to adequately provide a meaning of Civil Affairs that is useful to a commander. In
its simplified form, the definition does no more than
say that Civil Affairs are “designated…forces and unit
… (that) conduct Civil Affairs operations...” Since Civil
Affairs operations are defined as “actions planned, executed, and assessed by Civil Affairs forces …,”5 the definition effectively states that “Civil Affairs are designated
forces that conduct actions planned, executed, and assessed
by Civil Affairs forces.”
Considering an Alternative
According to English grammar, an open form compound word like Civil Affairs combines the modifying adjective, civil, meaning, “of or relating to the regular business of the people in a city, town, state, etc.: not
connected to the military or to a religion,”6 with its plural
noun, affairs, meaning, “work or activities done for a purpose (such as) commercial, professional, public, or personal
business”7 to create a new plural noun.8 Thus, we might
describe Civil Affairs as commercial, professional, public,
or personal work or activities that are of, or related to, the
regular business of the people in a city, town, state, etc. Be-
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