Civil Affairs NCOs change hearts and minds

8/3/2019 Civil Affairs NCOs change hearts and minds

1/62 FEBRUARY 2012

H

&

COUNTERINSURGENCY:

SPECIAL OPERATIONS

CIVIL AFFAIRS NCOS

HELP CHANGE

2 FEBRUARY 2012


2/6 NCO JOURNAL

BY JENNIfER MaTTSON

NCO Journal

Civil aairs teams harness cul-tural, religious and regionalintelligence to provide com-

batant commanders with a orce mul-

tiplier that helps Soldiers across thebattleeld.

Master Sgt. Jesse Miramontes, an11B inantryman who joined civilaairs as a team sergeant, said civilaairs teams provide insight and inpuwell above most o their pay gradesand civil aairs NCOs must be highlycompetent, intelligent and able to

handle missions with maturity and integrity as they operate in smaller teamunits. Being on a smaller team enablehim to have more responsibility andreedom. As part o his job, he hastalked with ambassadors, chies and

village elders, he said.Te dierence in our NCOs com-

pared with other NCOs throughout

the Army is that our NCOs are on thesame level as the ofcers they workwith, Miramontes said. Teyrethrown more responsibility; theyreable to do things that other NCOsarent. On a our-man team, they haveone ofcer and three NCOs. At anytime, those individuals can switch anddo dierent jobs. Not only the ofcer

would brie the ambassador, but a stasergeant a civil aairs NCO coulalso brie the ambassador.

ARTS

indS

Sta Sgt. Nathaniel Johnson (let) o 1st Platoon, CTroop, 2nd Squadron, 38th Cavalry Regiment, 525th

Battleeld Surveillance Brigade; Capt. James Nelso

a civil aairs ocer; and Hader, the units interpretespeak with elders Dec. 9 in the Shorbak Desert, Kan

dahar province, Aghanistan. The regiment deploys

civil aairs Soldiers to assist in gathering culturalinormation. PHOTO BY SPC. PHIL KERNISAN


3/64 FEBRUARY 2012

The tem

Each civil aairs team is made upo a captain; a team sergeant; a teamNCO, who is usually the team engi-neer; and the team medic. Tougheach has their own specialties, themembers o the team are able to lleveryone elses roles, i necessary.

eams within the 95th Civil A-

airs Brigade (Airborne) are rapidlydeployable; advise the combatantcommanders or ambassadors onregional, cultural and local issues; andact as liaisons to nongovernmentalagencies, inormation operationsand U.S. government agencies. Sgt.Michael Pate, a medic with C Com-pany, 92nd Civil Aairs Battalion,95th Civil Aairs Brigade, said teamsrom the 95th Civil Aairs Brigade, towhich ve o the Armys active-dutycivil aairs battalions belong, collect

and analyze inormation rom localsbased on their extensive knowledge othe region, its religions, traditions andcustoms.

All civil aairs Soldiers, NCOs

and ocers, are language trained,culturally trained and regionallyaligned, Pate said. So when theydeploy to a country, theyre able toprovide insight into the religion,into the culture and into the way acertain country or certain peoplelive their lie day-to-day. It can havea huge eect on the way that the

combatant commander plays out hisground orce, like whether or not todo certain things at certain times othe day based on whats going on with[residents] day-to-day lives.

First Sgt. Gheorghe Iime, amedic who switched to civil aairsin 2004, said civil aairs Soldiers areexceptionally adaptable, reliable andcompetent.

In civil aairs, everyone has tohandle the radio like a [communica-tions] guy, Iime said. I the team

gets split and two guys have to go andyour commo guy cant go, then every-one on the team has to be procient.Everyone on the team has to knowhow to be an [emergency medical

technician] at a basic level and doemergency medical procedures tosave lives. Everybody is trained.

First Sgt. Daniel Anderson, therst sergeant o A Company, 96thCivil Aairs Battalion, said civil a-airs teams oer a unique mission seand capabilities.

Te team sergeant has been

the medic or the engineer beore,Anderson said. Te ocers run thegamut rom (military intelligence) toengineers all o that plays a pivotarole to what we bring to the table.

Each member o the team needsto be multiunctional and able toperorm on an individual basis, An-derson said.

We do routine things, routinelywell, Anderson said. Teres noroom to slack o. I I have to senda team to Country X or six to nine

months at a time, they have to be mature. Tey have to be technically andtactically procient, not only in basiArmy skills, but in their specic jobon the team, whether thats the medi

sergeant, engineer sergeant orteam sergeant.

The missions

Civil aairs Soldiers deployto places including Iraq,Aghanistan, Yemen and the

Philippines.Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Millera medic who joined civil aaiin 2003, said its important orcivil aairs NCOs to constantlearn, train and adapt to chaning environments, because thnever know what locale theywill nd themselves in next.

Every mission Ive donehas been dierent; nothingis ever the same, Miller said.You can take what youve

learned in other missions anddeployments, but the peopleyou deal with and the placesyou go are always dierent. Yo

First Sgt. Gheorghe Itime

extracts a tooth during CampAnacondas clinic outside Bala

Iraq. The clinic ocused on

general clinic work, veterinaryservices and dental hygiene.PHOTO COURTESY OF 1ST SGT.

GHEORGHE IFTIME


4/6 NCO JOURNAL

have to be able to adjust.Civil aairs missions are sepa-

rated into two groups: civil militarysupport element missions and tacti-cal coalition joint special operationstask orce missions. Civil militarysupport element teams work directlywith the U.S. ambassador and thehost nations military to help estab-

lish legitimacy or the host govern-ment. About 37 percent o the civilaairs missions are this type.

In some cases, youre work-ing directly or the embassy or themilitary group or partner nation,Miller said. Its dierent than work-ing with Aghanistan, where youreworking directly or your command.

Here, youre working or yourambassador, so things are a littlemore touchy. You dont want to doanything to get the ambassador

against you; he can take you out othe country at any time.

Civil aairs teams also work withthe military, police and governmentocials in the host country to pro-

vide local people with the resourcesthey need.

We engage the local police toput the countrys ace ahead o us,so that the locals know that theirmilitary and police help providesecurity and provide help needed,

Miller said.Te majority o civil aairs teamsmissions are passed o rom onecivil aairs team to another; thedeployment or civil aairs teamstypically lasts six to nine months.

Most o the time when we go in,were replacing [another] civil aairsteam, Miramontes said.

Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Ander-son, an operations NCO withC Company, 96th Civil Aairs Bat-talion, which works in U.S. Central

Commands area o responsibility,said he has deployed on civil aairsmissions in Iraq, Aghanistan, Qatarand Yemen.

In one day, we can be dealing withthe U.S. ambassador, the U.S. [Agencyor International Developmentadministrator], and within that sameday, we could be working with hostnation military privates or generalcivilians within the country, Ander-son said. We have the fexibility to

deal with very high-ups within ourown government and also the generalpopulace within the streets. Tatswhat makes active-duty civil aairsunique, because civil aairs operatorshave the maturity and the ability tooperate at those levels, understandtheir culture, their way o lie, theirreligion essentially blend in, build

rapport and establish relationshipswith them.

Working withcombtnt commnders

Te majority o the 95th Civil A-airs Brigade missions involve work-ing directly with other U.S. Army Spe-cial Operations Command orces or

Cvl Affars UtsaCTIVE COMPONENTThere are two Army ctive-duty civil aairs brigades and our reserve commands.

Whether active-duty or reserve component, civil aairs teams will deploy in support o a

battalion and act as an outreach to support missions on the ground around the world.

RESERVE COMPONENTThere are our army Reserve civil irs commnds that act as higher headquarters

or six civil aairs brigades. Ninety-our percent o the Department o Deenses civil a-

airs orces are assigned under U.S. Army Reserve Command. Each civil aairs commandadvises a our-star general who is in charge o a combatant command area o operation.

All civil aairs commands all under the U.S. Army Civil Aairs and Psychological Opera-

tions Command (Airborne) at Fort Bragg, N.C.

The 350th Civil airs

Commnd supports

SOUTHCOM

The 352nd Civil airs

Commnd supports

CENTCOM

The 351st Civil airs

Commnd supports

PaCOM

The 353rd Civil airs

Commnd supports

EUCOM

The 91st Civil airs

Bttlion (airborne)

supports afRICOM.

The 92nd Civil airs

Bttlion (airborne)

supports EUCOM.

The 96th Civil airs

Bttlion (airborne)

supports CENTCOM.

The 97th Civil airs

Bttlion (airborne)

supports PaCOM.

The 98th Civil airs

Bttlion (airborne)

supports SOUTHCOM.

The 95th Civil airs Brigde (airborne) is the only active-duty, spe-

cial operations civil aairs brigade in the Army. The brigade is organized

by battalions, which coincide with combatant commands.

The 85th Civil airs Brigde is organized under the U.S. Army Forces

Command and was activated last September at Fort Hood, Texas. Only

one unit, the 81st Civil Aairs Battalion, has activated so ar. The other

our are scheduled or activation later this year through 2014. The frst

units will be ready to deploy in fscal year 2013.


5/66 FEBRUARY 2012

reporting to a combatant commander.Essentially we report into country

and report to the headquarters unit,Anderson said. We help legitimize theU.S. presence there and interact withthe Department o State and the U.S.military. We advise the commander

on anything, including civilians onthe battleeld or civilians within hisoperational environment.

Te missions vary greatly, evenday-to-day.

One day you could be dealing withriots in the streets, Pate said. Anotherday, you could be walking through themarkets and getting ood to eat or thenight. It could be calm and peaceul.

Overall, the civil aairs mission isto help restore the populations trust intheir own government so that civilians

dont resort to extremism or violenceto solve their problems.

Our mission is accomplishedwhen, regardless o what problem theyhave, weve legitimized their govern-ment, Iime said. In 10 years or veyears, well come back home, but theirgovernment will still unction there.

fcilitting clinic

A common mission is to providemedical outreach to the local populace.

A civil aairs team will put to-gether a team and go there or a dayor two, Iime said. A lot o times,the locals will open up their houses,set up a clinic there and start treatingmajor and minor problems.

One o the villages that I was

in, they started to complain aboutgastrointestinal problems. We guredout that they didnt wash their hands.So we developed a little class to con-

vince them that washing their handswill help [combat the disease].

Tough a civil aairs team will havemedical, dental and veterinary clinics,the teams real mission is to identiywhat is causing those problems in therst place, Iime said.

Part o our job is to analyze andgure out what some o these root

problems are and to send that inorma-tion up to the commander so he canwork with his counterpart to organizeand put these things together like a(medical clinic). Tats where we reallymake a dierence.

Medics are critical to the team, asthey bring essential knowledge andcapabilities to treat disease.

Medics give the CA team a lot ocredibility and buy-in, Daniel Ander-son said. Tey mesh in with medics

rom [a special operations team] orthe [Navy] SEAL teams; chances aretheyve probably gone to school to-gether. And it buys in a lot o credibility whether its a [Medical Commandmission or whether its a clinical assesment, that determines what a clinic

may need or may not have.

Trining or civil irs

Te 95th Civil Aairs Brigade has language lab at Fort Bragg that allowsSoldiers to brush up on language andcultural skills prior to deploying.

In addition, civil aairs Soldiers arrequired to have a 1-1 language pro-ciency rating, fuent in both the writtand oral oreign language.

Beore a unit deploys to a country,

Sgt. 1st Class John Dominguez, a civil aairs medic with the 98th Civil Aairs

Battalion assists in delivering a baby during recovery operations in Haiti ater an

earthquake in January 2010. PHOTO COURTESY OF 95TH CIVIL AFFAIRS BRIGADE

Civil AffAirs

uniforms

When civil aairs teams de-

ploy to some environments, they

oten dont wear the Army uni-

orm or dont wear it to standard.

We wont wear the uniorm,

because we dont want to standout in certain areas, said Sgt.

1st Class Shawn Miller, a medic

with the 95th Civil Aairs Brigade

(Airborne). There are only our

guys in a team; sometimes were

split into two. You dont want to

go around with a big U.S. on

your chest or a fag on your arm

because an area might be some-

where they dont want you. We

dont go in waving a U.S. fag, be-

cause we want the eorts to be

those o the local government.

Master Sgt. Jesse Miramon-

tes, who has worked as a civil

aairs team sergeant, NCOIC and

rst sergeant, said that though

civil aairs Soldiers dont always

wear the U.S. Army uniorm, they

are no less proessional Soldiers

and understand what the uniorm

stands or.

Sometimes you wouldnt be

working in uniorm, but youre

still representing those things,

and youre still in the military,

Miramontes said.


6/6 NCO JOURNAL

the team does extensive research onwhat will be needed to accomplishthe mission and what tools it willneed to have. Te team typicallytrains or three to our months beoredeployment.

Any country we go to, weve iden-

tied months in advance [what weneed], Anderson said. So we knowwhat language we need to be pro-cient in, and we use that languagelab. I we know that were going toAghanistan, we know we need tobe procient in (Pashto or Dari). Westart training months in advance sothat we get a good introduction tothe language. It establishes cred-ibility with (those civilians). It tellsthem that we have made an attemptto understand their culture, their

language.

Te civil aairs mission isnt aglamorous one, Iime said. Its onein which Soldiers blend in with thepopulation, identiy problems andhelp the local government and itscivilians work together to restorelines o communication and identiy

solutions.

Its not about us, Iime said. Itsabout their country. Its about theirgovernment. I you see that theyremaking a dierence, thats goodenough.

To contact Jennifer Mattson, email

[email protected].

CAse study: yemen

Sgt. Michael Pate deployed to Yemen as a civil aairs

medic. In the initial planning stages, he and his team re-

viewed situational reports rom Yemen and items that were

covered in the national media.

We started working on screw-worm [eradication] be-

cause it was cited as an epidemic in some small column in

page 37 o The Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer, Pate said. Itwasnt anything anyone thought much about, but it jumped

out to us immediately as something that we could assist

with once we went orward.

The larvae o screw-worms burrow in animals cuts,

living o the hosts tissue. Yemen was experiencing a mas-

sive inestation o the screw-worm beore and during Pates

deployment. Approximately 800,000 cattle, sheep and goats

were inected with screw-worms, which caused the price o

livestock to go up and hurt the local economy.

Ater teams identiy a problem, they research and brain-

storm how to combat it.

Wed prepared a vignette on how the U.S. treated screw-

worm and how it was eradicated here, Pate said. We had a

lot o crowd-sourcing and brain-sourcing sessions as a team

where we tried to come up with the most viable option. Lo-

gistically speaking, we reached back to distributors (in the

United States) and identied who could bring that product to

us and how we could get it in-country.

Though the team is able to come up with a solution and

can work the logistics to make it happen, a big part o the

civil aairs mission is to sell its solution to the host nation

government, Pate said.

We were shut down or the better part o our deploy-ment, Pate said. The ministries there wanted nothing to do

with our solution. They wanted this one specic drug that

was very dicult to get because o the way its regulated

internationally.

With their lax customs laws, they could get that in. But

they didnt want anything labeled U.S. Government coming

in that said this is what the U.S. is pushing on us.

Civil aairs teams worked with nongovernmental organi-

zations, U.S. oreign aid ocials and their own chain o com-

mand to help the host nation understand the importance o

looking at a viable solution rom all angles, Pate said.

They changed their policy. They accepted the proposal,

Pate said. And when we let, they were in talks with the U.S.

embassy to [implement our solution] in the country.

A civil aairs veterinarian injects a

cow with a vitamin supplement Oct.2, 2008, during a joint coalition orces

and Aghan National Security Forces

operation in Shinkay district, Zabulprovince, Aghanistan. Operations

like this show the wide variety o civil

aairs capabilities, which include notonly providing medical treatment or

local civilians, but also or animals,

which are oten communities liveli-hood.PHOTO COURTESY OF USASOC

Civil Affairs NCOs change hearts and minds

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