Quality is Free:
Improving Outcomes in an Era of Austerity Through
Integrated Civil Military Training and Operations
Sergeant First Class Ryan S. Long and
Staff Sergeant Bjorn E. Hansen
A continued lack of familiarity between Active and
Reserve Civil Affairs (CA), and between CA and other
governmental agencies (DoS/USAID, etc.), all during
an era of reductions in military spending, continues to
result in unnecessary friction during joint and interagency operations. By integrating Reserve and Active
Component CA and military/non-military training
and routine operations the Army and DoD can expect higher force generation rates, lower end-strength
requirements, and better operational outcomes. This
paper will present a case for integrating Active and
Reserve CA force structure and operations, improving
training and readiness standards, and integrating CA
training with relevant non-DoD agencies in order to
better utilize the unique capabilities of each component, while reducing costs.
Since the War on Terror began in 2001, U.S. Army
Civil Affairs has been relied on to support the nation’s
political and military efforts in nearly every theater
of operations. With the vast majority of CA forces
belonging to the Army Reserve, these resource and
personnel-intensive operations quickly drained the
availability of trained CA forces Army-wide. As Army
CA struggled to generate forces over more tha n a decade of warfare, it faced challenges brought about by
rapid growth and provisional missions and taskings,
such as fractures between Active Component (AC)
and Reserve Component (RC) forces, and missions in
support of non-DoD elements.
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