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Show NEWS a 7dQo(odi) did ft . Marth IF by Tim Downey American Forces Information Service Mention Total Force concept and chances are most Department of Defense people can reel off the first three components in a heartbeat: active duty military, National Guard and the Reserve. Mentioning DOD civilians and contractors is an afterthought. That doesn't sit well with Elaine Babcock, DOD's associate director of total force requirements. Ms. Babcock said civilians and contractors are pulling their load and then some. Civilians have helped get the 500,000 U.S. service members to the Persian Gulf area and still supply and support them. "I've been preaching it for years, and we're seeing it happen today with Desert Storm. The military cannot mobilize, deploy or sustain itself without its civilian work force," she said. "Civilians are intimately involved in the support, loading, unloading and transportation of equipment. They keep the supply of spare parts up to strength, repair equipment and do the paperwork and processing to get the units over there." That's because civilians now do a lot of the jobs that service members previously performed, she explained. In the 1980s, more than 20,000 military spaces were converted to civilian positions. Civilians solely are filling jobs that might once have been military or civilian, said Ms. Babcock. DOD policy has long been to hire civilians and contractors, freeing military forces to perform vital military functions. DOD's million civilian eme ployees constitute about a third of its work force. The Total Force policy calls for them to participate in "all defense activities not potentially involving combat." There are two good reasons for civilianization, according to Ms. Babcock. It's usually cheaper because benefits and allowances are different, and the rotation of military people means constant training requirements. Because civilians tend to stay at jobs longer than do military members, they provide the continuity that results in years of expertise on sophisticated gear, she said. redoubled in Civilian and contractor know-hoclear that Saddam significance when it became Hussein would not leave Kuwait peacefully. Thousands of hours of planning, testing and training were put to the test as Operation Desert Storm unfolded and equipment got wartime treatment. Civilians and contractors make up 2 percent to 5 percent of the U.S. force in Saudi Arabia. Ms. Babcock said most job skills being used include full-tim- w 66 I've been preaching it for years, and we're seeing it happen today with Desert Storm. The military cannot mobilize, deploy or sustain itself without its civilian work forre. 99 ft D 5, 1991 Hilltop Times 13 IFir knowledges the risk they are taking, she said. Civilians deployed to the area on temporary duty, but who are permanently assigned in the Middle East, receive a pay differential of 10 percent to 25 percent depending on their posting, according to personnel officials. Civilian employees deployed to the area on temporary duty begin to draw any applicable differential after the 42nd day in country. All employees receive danger pay when the Department of State determines that conditions warrant it. "Therefore, a contract or real estate specialist working in an office in Bahrain or Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, who would be evacuated in case of hostilities, gets the same allowance as the emergency-essentia- l civilian who's forward-deployeand stays no matter what," she said. No civilians and contractors are combatants, but they live under the same conditions and face the same risks as their active duty peers. Most civilian personnel were in theater when Desert Storm began. Contractor personnel and civilians on board Navy ships were also standing by. Ms. Babcock said they generally provide technical expertise should equipment malfunction. Ships are considered relatively safe, she said. Ms. Babcock said DOD civilians worldwide and civilian employees overseas are working hard to ensure that mounting military needs are met. An area that drew special praise from the director was safety. "We found we needed large numbers of chemical defensive gear sets and inspectors for loading ammunition. Employees have been working long hours to keep up with seemingly endless needs," Ms. Babcock said. To efficiently respond to Central Command's growing requirements for technical representatives, the Army's largely civilian Corps of Engineers and Materiel Command had established processing centers. The commands felt this would d Elaine Babcock DOD's associate director of total force requirements engineering, logistics, communications, real estate and contract administration. "Many of these experts ensure the huge influx of spare parts meets the demanding specifications for our weapon systems," she said. "They provide a wide range of support services such as writing contracts, keeping track of personal and real property, maintaining and repairing equipment, setting up sophisticated communications gear... you name it, they do it." The Air Force and Navy tend to have fewer civilians and contractors deployed with their forces than the Army, but all of the services rely on both groups, she said. "The Navy recently secured an exception to the internal hiring freeze to bring on board badly needed civilian mariners," she said. "They have relied almost solely on civilian employees to operate their replenishment . ships throughout Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. A particularly important group of civilians and contractors in theater are the "emergency-essential- " civilians, she said. "The designation means just that. They're invaluable to the success of the military in certain scenarios. They have agreed, in writing, to remain in theater." All services have such civilian workers, and when the unit they support deploys, the civilians deploy with them. "Some equipment takes years to learn, and the military members do not spend years in one place dealing with one kind of equipment," she said. Emergency-essentia- l personnel on temporary in no special pay that ac- Arabia draw Saudi duty local-nation- al save time and resources and standardize predeployment training of technicians. The Army has taken the idea and plans to centrally process all its civilians and contractors through one center, at Fort Jackson, S.C. "Civilians made major contributions to Desert Storm," Ms. Babcock said. "Many did it at the nosame time they were facing reduction-in-forc- e because we're smaller force a tices, transitioning to even as we met the challenge of this huge operation. That says a lot about the professionalism, patriotism and dedication of our people." |