Civil Affairs Specialist Job Description

Civil affairs specialists

Civil affairs soldiers support both conventional and special operations forces in combat and identify the needs of local citizens. Civil resources are found to support military operations, deal with non-soldiers injured in the line of duty, and help with humanitarian relief efforts. A civil affairs specialist is involved in the planning and production of civil affairs documents.

Civil affairs soldiers can help plan government procedures in the event of a national emergency. Civil affairs' duties include coordination of military resources to support activities like reconstitution or reconstruction and support of national disaster. Civil affairs specialists are in charge of keeping in touch with civilian aid agencies and in the event of emergencies.

It is crucial in situations where the political and economic systems are not functioning. Civil affairs specialists must have no record of conviction by a court martial or civil court for any offense other than traffic violations. Emergency management specialists are those who act as a liaison between various agencies and organizations during a crisis to ensure a positive outcome with minimal casualties for all parties.

The Effectiveness of the Commanding Officer

3-3. CA staff personnel and personnel assigned to tactical units are usually CA generalists. CA generalists support the commander's immediate needs by coordinating CA activities that support the mission.

The ability to negotiate with local civilians and a thorough knowledge of the military decision-making process are critical skills of the CA generalist. The CA generalist's estimate of the situation is the beginning of effective CMO. 3-6.

The effectiveness of CA personnel is enhanced by a theater-oriented language capability. CA organizations are trying to achieve limited basic language skills. CA units should ideally recruit individuals with a combination of civilian technical expertise, military education appropriate to their grade, and language skills appropriate to their theater of employment.

The U.S Army Civil Affairs Unit

Civil affairs components are used in many special political missions led by the Department of Political Affairs. Civil Affairs Officers are usually deployed at the local level, where they serve as a link between the UN mission and local authorities and communities. Civil affairs components work countrywide to strengthen the social and civic conditions necessary to consolidate peace processes.

There were 700 Civil Affairs Officers in 13 UN Peacekeeping Operations as of mid-2013. The deployment of large civil affairs components to missions in the early 2000s increased. Each one had its own unique focus and contribution to make in implementing peace mandates at the local level, but each was there to strengthen links to ordinary citizens, as well as to support the development of social conditions conducive to peace and provide an overall facilitation role locally.

The need to better identify and support national capacities is one of the major issues identified in the review of civilian capacities. The United Nations has seen success in humanitarian operations and built a strong partnership with Member States. The international community has not been able to support and enable the national capacities that are essential for peace.

Civil affairs components have a key role to play in identifying and supporting national capacities, within civil society and local government, including through helping to ensure that voices from the local level are heard in nationally led peacebuilding processes. Civil affairs can be expected to remain at the forefront of the UN's response to conflict and to build the processes, structures, relationships and trust required to assist countries and communities to break the cycle of violence. Civil Affairs is the force that the Army uses to compete and win within the population.

" Civil Affairs soldiers have knowledge of governance and diplomacy, which makes them the experts in assisting a commander on the conduct of civil-military operations. All Active Component Army Civil Affairs personnel are Special Operations Forces-qualified and undergo rigorous assessment and selection, followed by extensive training in foreign languages, advanced survivability skills, and negotiations techniques in order to operate autonomously as a small team, in any kind of environment, to achieve strategic end states.