Posted on Apr 29, 2016
Is today's military too civilian dependent?
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In the years gone by the U.S. Military was mostly self-sufficient, should the military become refocused on building, maintaining, and securing everything on installations? I believe the Sea Bees, Corps of Engineers, and Red Horse units should be expanded and utilized in Federal construction projects on and off of post/base and civilian involvement should be limited to labor/support roles.
Military Police Officer (MP)
GS Civilians
Contractors
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 26
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Absolutely!!! Why shouldn't our Soldiers fully operate and grow within their MOS. Is there any better training? We should be a SELF SUSTAINING FORCE and not rely on outsourcing contracts.
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CW4 (Join to see)
I don't think dependent is the right word. The Army doesn't NEED civilians to be network administrators, gate guards, finance workers, etc... One day a civilian told a base commander that they could do the job for less and free up soldiers to do more important jobs. The base commander said ok. They didn't know the absolute hassle civilians would make out of network support or getting paid properly. Once we opened the flood gates to the civilian leeches upon the government teet, its hard to stop. In reality, military posts are usually the only thing that keeps the nearest town alive. Military posts don't employ those civilians because we need it, its because those civilians demanded it.
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TSgt Kerry Hardy
Reason military needs civilians is that when we are called to deploy. Having our SMs working in post/base sustainment position causes short falls in deployable SMs. Having civilians in post/base sustainment position frees SMs to be combat read. Exercises is how we train our SMs to be read for combat. Without civilians we get SMs that deploy over and over and get burned out and leave causing a knowledge gap....
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TSgt Kerry Hardy
CW4 (Join to see) - Civilians aren't demanding to work but Government does. I am a GS-13 in DISA and I didn't demand my job, I applied. Sound like you got contractors and the reason they are that way is because of Government making dumb-ass rules they most follow that cause work slow downs a problems. The way a contracts are bid and written to spell out just what that contractor can do and what they can be told to do. GS employees are used like SMs and can be move around withing there series i.e. GS-2210-13 in IT. Easier to work with but Government like contractors for some reason.
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LTC William Gilmore
I am a retired Medical Service Corps officer and I can tell you the AMEDD couldn't do the job without civilian support.
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I hear it from engineers all over Schofield. "I just want to do my job!" We have soldiers cutting grass or painting old barracks. Why don't we have engineers building these buildings on post, repairing these facilities? I'm not 100% anti-civilian, but I'll admit my bias. I think soldiers get shafted opportunities to grow, learn, and develop skills when the army pays civilians buku money to do these soldiers' jobs.
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The military has gone through this before and we never learn. Too many civilian employees have hurt us in the past but too few has made it difficult when we deploy soldiers in mass. I do not like seeing too many of our law enforcement personnel being civilians as that seems to breed a negative environment, even more than the uniformed MP. After Desert Storm I remember the returning soldiers really giving our blue suiters a lot of guff. There is something about being able to tell a soldier to "at ease" when in uniform that carries a lot more weight that a prior service civilian with a badge trying to do it. Civilians in administrative positions are one thing but in certain positions (LE, hospital, security) I believe it creates more problems.
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SGT C Mendez
After seeing how law enforcement runs on some installations, I think that law enforcement on military installations should be civilian. There were plenty of times that I saw MP's get "ranked over." They got rank pulled on them and were intimidated into not taking action. Mind you, this is not everywhere but it does indeed happen. Also, the MP's are not fully law enforcement trained. Due to the constant PCS moves, one can't expect an MP to transfer their knowledge from one base to another because everything is different.
Also, I don't know (personally) of any civilian that would tell a soldier "at ease." First, that's just wrong and second what type of environment would exist that would allow that to happen anyways? If you drive 30 miles over the speed limit, regardless of rank, action should be taken. Civilian employees should not be considered a hindrance but they should be considered an asset. I remember soldiers hating civilians when I was in and I never understood it.
Also, I don't know (personally) of any civilian that would tell a soldier "at ease." First, that's just wrong and second what type of environment would exist that would allow that to happen anyways? If you drive 30 miles over the speed limit, regardless of rank, action should be taken. Civilian employees should not be considered a hindrance but they should be considered an asset. I remember soldiers hating civilians when I was in and I never understood it.
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