U.S. Special Operations

Civil Affairs

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Civil Affairs Organizational Overview

 

USACAPOC(A), also headquartered at Fort Bragg, is one of four major commands comprising the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. USACAPOC(A) soldiers maintain the highest standards of training and physical readiness in order to be prepared to deploy anywhere in the world on short notice.

Although Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations activities often complement each other, each battle system operates individually in support of field commanders. Civil Affairs soldiers are the field commander's link to the civil authorities in his area of operation. With specialists in every area of the government, they can assist a host government meet its people's needs and maintain a stable and viable civil administration.

Civil Affairs soldiers possess unique training, skills and experience. Since the majority of the Civil Affair forces are in the Reserve component, these soldiers bring to the Army finely honed skills practiced daily in the civilian sector as judges, physicians, bankers, health inspectors, fire chiefs, etc.

USACAPOC(A) units provide support to all theater commanders in meeting their global commitments. USACAPOC(A) soldiers have contributed significantly to recent humanitarian missions. They assisted victims of Hurricane Andrew in Florida, coordinated refuge for Cubans and Haitians in Cuba, and were among the first soldiers sent to Somalia and Haiti. Unique training, experience and the abilities of USACAPOC(A)'s soldiers make them an ideal asset in dealing with national priorities.

Civil affairs units help military commanders attain their objectives during peace, contingency operations and declared war. They support activities of both conventional and special operations forces.

Civil affairs specialists can quickly and systematically identify critical requirements needed by local citizens in war or disaster situations. They can also locate civil resources to support military operations, help minimize civilian interferences with operations, support national assistance activities, plan and execute non-combatant evacuation, support counter-drug operations, and establish and maintain liaison or dialogue with civilian personnel agencies and civilian commercial and private organizations.

In support of special operations, these culturally-oriented, linguistically-capable soldiers may also be tasked to provide functional expertise for foreign internal defense operations, unconventional warfare operations and direct action missions. The functional structure of civil affairs forces and their experience, training, and orientation provide a capability for emergency coordination and administration where civilian political-economic structures have been incapacitated.

They can help plan U.S. government interagency procedures for national or regional emergencies. They can assist civil-military planning and military support operations for theater commanders in chief. Additionally, they can coordinate military resources to support government operations, emergency actions and humanitarian assistance from natural, man-made or war-related causes.

The 96th Civil Affairs Battalion, with four percent of the civil affairs forces, is the only active Army civil affairs unit. The unit is readily available to deploy and provides primarily tactical support.

The remaining 96 percent of the Army's civil affairs forces are found in the Reserve Component. They provide a prime source of nation-building skills.

Civil affairs units include soldiers with training and experience in public administration, public safety, public health, legal systems, labor management, public welfare, public finance, public education, civil defense, public works and utilities, public communications, public transportation, logistics, food and agricultural services, economics, property control, cultural affairs, civil information, and managing dislocated persons.

One of the most ambitious civil affairs undertakings during this century was the Marshall Plan which restored governmental infrastructure to the defeated Axis nations after World War 11. More recent employment of these assets include tactical support to military commanders during Operations JUST CAUSE and DESERT STORM, support to the restoration of the Panamanian government infrastructure during Operation PROMOTE LIBERTY, management of an encampment of refugee Haitians at Guantanamo Bay, natural disaster relief assistance to ravaged areas in the aftermath of hurricanes Andrew and Iniki and, assisting the humanitarian efforts in Somalia.

Three Civil Affairs Foreign Internal Defense/Unconventional Warfare Battalions exist in the USAR to support SF on CA FID/UW type of missions. The CA FID/UW BN has a TOE that has been designed to bring more Medical and Engineer support resources down to the ODA working in the FID/UW environment. The medical and engineer assets in the Bn create Three Civic Action teams for Medcaps, and 1 team for DentCaps.Medics, Preventive medicine Personnel and Veterinarians are spread across the Three Civic action teams. The Civic Action Teams are intended to support SF's Civic action mission. (For a historical view please review the SF /USAID sponsored Civic action missions employed in the Southeast Asian War)

For Contrast and comparison, the majority of civil affairs units are intended to support conventional units, and are composed primarily of 38 Alpha(CA) qualified personnel. 99% of these units are in the USAR. ( Note:RA is regular Army, USAR is the Federal Controlled Reserves, While the National Guard is controlled by the state they belong to), The CA units are designed to augment Staffs at conventional task force Bn Hq or higher, they serve as faclilitators, Coordinators and Staff advisors. As you are Aware, the 96th CA Bn is the only Active Compnent (RA) CA BN. It is an organization composed of Detatchments comprised of Special Forces enlisted personnel commanded by Conventional Branch officers trained in CA (ie. an infantry officer, graduate of the CA course who May have majored in Political Science).

The use of Special Forces personnel in this capacity enhances the flexability of employment to support the total operational CA spectrum of the Active component units. Their customers are both Conventional, and Unconventional military units. The unit composition provides ability to assess, coordinate CMO (Civil Military Operations) related missions, and to operate as a short term support Structure by providing personnel who can actually perform as operators in HA/CMO related missions until a handoff is made to the appropriate agency. (USAR Conventional CMO Personnel are not employed as operators in HA related missions. They are advisors to the tactical commander or serve as representatives of a special staff. It is rare for U.S. CA unit to actually have the internal capability to provide the onsite medical or engineer expertise capability that is an integrated part of the Active Army CA BN. The assigned Special Forces personnel allows operational flexibility in tailoring responses to specific missions as in providing conventional Civil Affairs support to conventional Tactical Commanders, or Augmenting an ODA for a Special Forces mission.)

The 96th Ca Bn is intended for short term operations. When long term conventional operations are required, the 96th hands the mission off to the USAR Civil Affairs.

The composition for the USAR Civil affairs Bn is Like any other CSS (Combat Service Support) unit in that it is not self sustainable, and the TOE (Table of organisation and Equipment) is comprised primarily of one MOS. (In this Case "38 Alpha"). The organisations identified as Battalions are actually Company sized in strength, and are commanded by a LTC. The LTC postion for this company sized organization has to do something with the number of field officers assigned (CA is Officer heavy), the amount of responsibility (the primary customer isa Joint task force), and providing Staff parity for interaction with the JTF (ie the S-5 is an LTC who talks to the S-3 who is an LTC, vs a Cpt to LTC relationship..).

Reserve Civil Affairs Battalions have minimal internal engineer or medical assets. They are designed to create "Instant S-5s" and "CMOCS". (Civil Military operations Centres or "CIMICS".) The primary customer for the CA Bns are conventional Task Forces. The "CMOCS" are like a clearing house of information, and Customer service support Help Desk. They are intended to keep track of all available civilian Resources (ie coal, wood, personnel skills), NGO /HA related activities in their sector, Cultural related information, and a " Who's who" in the local government infrastructure. The intent is to minimize duplication of CMO efforts planned in conjunction with the commanders operation, provide a Central POC and facility for civilian representatives and NGOs to discuss issues, and ensure that the local indigenous assets are maximized in the effective resolution of a problem. Sometimes CMOCs become the originator of taskings for medical units and engineer units in support of the civilian populace. If a requirement for medical assistance is assessed during a CMO, and the CMOC is unable to relay this information to an NGO capable of handling it, the CMOC will coordinate a medical JTF asset under the guidelines of a Commanders Moral obligation to the civilian populace. The predominate skill set for the Conventional USAR CA Bn pertains to planning, operations, and cultural orientation. They do not have the inherent capability to operate in the same operational spectrum level as the 96th.

The FID/UW Bns however can. There are Only Three Fid/UW Bns in the Total ARMY (USAR.) Each one is intended to support Special Force Groups oriented to a specific geographical area. The FID/UW Bns Have 40 Medical personnel, and 21 Engineers, Along with the 120 plus CA MOS's. There are 20 Medical Professional Slots (ie PA,Dentist,physician) and 20 Corresponding medical para professionals (91S,91B, etc). An examination of the TOE suggests that the Fid/UW Bn is designed to perform the MEDCAPS, and ENCAPS, that are inherent to missions Such as the ACRI, and still fulfill The CMO related duties inherent within a Civil Affairs unit.

 

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