DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce

[PRT interest]

Greetings from downrange. Any opinion on the DoD's new Civilian Expeditionary Workforce? It looks a lot like State's Civilian Reserve Corps. Here are some details:

"Members of the DoD Civilian Expeditionary Workforce shall be organized, trained, cleared, equipped, and ready to deploy in support of combat operations by the military; contingencies; emergency operations; humanitarian missions; disaster relief; restoration of order; drug interdiction; and stability operations of the Department of Defense in accordance with DoDD 3000.05 (Reference (b))."
http://www.dtic.mil/whs/directives/corres/pdf/140410p.pdf

in which 157 slots were open and 1,500 resumes were submitted (from DoD personnel).
http://thetension.blogspot.com/2008/10/pentagon-to-create-civilian.html

This sounds very similary to the Department of State's Civilian Response Corps, "which is a partnership of eight departments and agencies: the Department of State, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Department of Agriculture, Department of Commerce, Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Department of the Treasury:"

"The Civilian Response Corps is a group of civilian federal employees and, eventually, volunteers from the private sector and state and local governments, who will be trained and equipped to deploy rapidly to countries in crisis or emerging from conflict, in order to provide reconstruction and stabilization assistance."
http://www.america.gov/st/texttrans-english/2008/July/20080716154127eaifas0.6836817.html

in which there are a couple dozen out of the 250 Active component members hired (with 2,000 Standby and 2,000 Reserve members planned) and (using civil service numbers - several thousand resumes submitted).

State compares the CRC with the UK's Stabilisation Unit, Canada's CANADEM, the Australian Federal Police Force, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations, the European Union, NATO.

Where does this new CEW fit in?

[Old Eagle]

My understanding is that the DoD civilians will serve as advisors in their day job lanes. When I was on the MOD advisory team in Afghanistan, we had an OSD civilian expert who was also an Army reservist. He worked with us as a mobilised 0-6. The rest of the team were primarily contractors. This new program appears to be aimed at filling the gap by providing real DoD employees to overseas missions rather than having to settle for either uniforms or contractors. Alibi -- they could also be used on PRTs in slots requiring their expertise.

Once again, this is just my reading of a bunch of articles out there.

[Tom Odom]

Given my recent experience in getting to the sand box, we have much work to do in terms of streamlining processes as well as team building. I told my guys that as a child in the south of the 1950s and an Africanist of the 89s and 90s I was hopeful that apartheid, separate but equal, and similar systems were in decline. They are not; they have a new variant between military and civilian. The system seems damned determine to drive as many wedges between the 2 as possible.

best

Tom

[Ranger94]

Given my recent experience in getting to the sand box, we have much work to do in terms of streamlining processes as well as team building. I told my guys that as a child in the south of the 1950s and an Africanist of the 89s and 90s I was hopeful that apartheid, separate but equal, and similar systems were in decline. They are not; they have a new variant between military and civilian. The system seems damned determine to drive as many wedges between the 2 as possible.

best

Tom

Having deployed both as military and as a civilian, this, IMHO, is one of the MAJOR problems with the system. Now that I am back here as military on a ETT I have made an effort to build a "Coalition of the Willing".