US
Army Civil Affairs (CA) Organization
CA
units are designed to provide support to both GP and
SO forces at the tactical, operational, and strategic
levels. The vast majority of army CA forces are in
the reserve component (RC). The army's active component
(AC) CA unit (96 th
CA BN,
Ft. Bragg, NC) is capable of rapidly deploying one
of its five regionally aligned CA companies to meet
the initial CA support requirement, with transition
to RC units beginning as soon as mobilization permits.
The RC civil affairs units have functional specialties,
with the unit's soldiers being assigned to functional
teams. The functional specialties are:
Government
Section
Legal
Public
administration
Public
Education
Public
Health
Public
Safety
Economic/Commerce
Section
Economic
Development
Civilian
Supply
Food
and Agriculture
Public
Facilities Section
Public
Communications
Transportation
Public
Works and Utilities
Special
Functions Section
Cultural
Relations
Civil
Information
Dislocated
Civilians
Emergency
Services
Environmental
Management
Civil
Affairs Command
The five
reserve component CA commands provide predeployment
command and control to their geographically oriented
CA brigades and battalions. CA commands provide support
to their respective warfighting CINC. They are usually
the senior CA unit in theater and aligned to the Theater
Army (TA)
The command's
mission is to plan, manage and conduct CA operations
that support the TA commander. The CA command may
also provide staff support to the TA component services
and joint theater staff as required. The CA Commands
are responsible for the training, equipping, and preparation
of their subordinate units for mobilization and deployment
both in war and in support of peace operations. When
deployed CA units are attached to the supported command.
Civil Affairs commands have all the CA functional
specialties organized in functional teams.
Civil
Affairs Brigades
The Civil
Affairs brigades support the corps and the JTF, TA,
theater support command, and TA area commands. The
CA brigades provide predeployment command and control
to their battalions. The CA brigade accomplishes its
mission through attachment of its subordinate battalions.
The CA brigades are responsible for the training,
equipage, and preparation of their subordinate units
for mobilization and deployment both in war and support
of peace operations. When a CA brigade is designated
the senior CA unit in theater, it is aligned to a
Theater Army, and assumes the duties of a CA command.
It is the lowest level unit that has representation
of all of the CA functional specialties
Civil
Affairs Battalions
There are
three types of Civil Affairs battalions; the General
Support (GS), General Purpose(GP)
and Foreign
Internal Defense/Unconventional Warfare (FID/UW)
Civil
Affairs FID/UW BN Typical
The GS battalion
is the army's only active duty CA battalion and it
is responsible for planning and conducting CA activities
in support of military operations. Composed of CA
generalists, it provides immediate operational access
to CA assets for the regional CINCs, through the GS
battalion's regionally aligned companies.
The CA battalion
(GP) mission is to plan and conduct CA activities
in support of a division, a corps support command,
or an area support group. It supports planning and
coordination of CA and foreign nation support operations.
The unit provides Civil Affairs functional area specialists
in the following areas:
· Public Administration
· Dislocated Civilians
· Civilian Supply
· Public Communications
· Public Health
· Public Work and Utilities
The primary
mission of the reserve components' CA battalion FID/UW
is to support the theater SOC, the JSOTF, the SF group
headquarters. Its secondary mission is providing CA
support to conventional forces. The following are
examples of possible CA organizations.
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