Military Wants More Civilians to Help in Iraq

[Bill Moore]

While the NG obviously has more people skilled in these civil skills than the active duty, they cannot support long duration operations (several years) on the scale required. I'm active duty, so I speak with no expertise, but have been reminded several times by NG folks they also have another life, another job, and they can't stay away from it forever. We need the NG and Reserves to step up now (or continue stepping up), but the Army should be thinking long term and training a cadre of experts in these areas. Unlike the Air Force and Navy, the Army has tended to shy away from advanced technical training, and instead hires contractors to work at the depot level. Perhaps this a gap that the Navy and the Air Force can fill?