B. TOPIC. Making Civil Affairs an Integral Part of the Army Team (2556)
Observation.
Challenges of Civil Affairs (CA) include the newness of the capability and the
balance of its structure.
Discussion.
In terms of Army history, CA is a new capability (i.e., approximately 165 years
behind Infantry, Field Artillery, and Engineer Branches). The concept of Civil
Affairs is outsid e of direct combatant to combatant interface. This makes the
Civil Affairs capability an item outside of the normal considerations or concerns of
combat arms commanders, and, thus outside the Army’s cultural norms (i.e., how
we do things). The historical active to reserve component balance of CA (for
decades hovering at 3 to 97%, respectively) further facilitates the lack of
understanding of the capability, as it limits the Army’s daily interaction with and
use of the capability.
My personal experience as a Civil Affairs officer, on five deployments and
countless interactions with combat arms commanders, is that combat arms
commanders have an initial skepticism of the value of Civil Affairs based on
either a lack of knowledge about or previous bad experiences with the
capability. However, my experience has also been that those same combat arms
commanders can and will come to value the capability through regular, routine
interaction with competent Civil Affairs personnel, when they are constantly
present/involved members of the commander’s team.
The Army’s current doctrine presents both a challenge and opportunity for the
Civil Affairs Branch. The Army’s current operational concept/doctrine
(ADP/ADRP 3-0 published in NOV 16) is predicated on decisive action consisting
of offensive, defensive, and stability operations being conducted simultaneously,
unified action with partners, and consolidation of gains to achieve sustainable
desired outcomes. Current Army culture will make implementation of this
operational concept a challenge. Civil Affairs can and should be a central figure
in helping the Army to be successful in implementing this operational approach
by facilitating stability operations, identifying and collaborating with non-military
partners, and leading the consolidation of gains effort for commanders.
Recommendation.
The Civil Affairs Branch must continue to fight to attain a healthy balance of
active to reserve component structure. The size of the active CA component
must be large enough to ensure daily representation in and support to all active
component Brigade Combat Teams (BCTs), Divisions, and Corps (e.g., 30 to
70%, active to reserve ratio).
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