As the focus of the first of the three-day Civil Affairs Symposium identifies the value-added of “Civil Affairs: A Force for Influence in Competition,” the second demonstrates the greatest strength of the extended Civil Affairs Corps for this role in its youth and diversity. While its non-commissioned officers and junior leaders have long brought strategic value-added from the ground up, more of them have become increasingly intertwined with interagency partners. And the role of women in civil affairs, in an era of people-centric struggles for dominant influence, has seen little serious institutional consideration.
Tuesday October 6th begins with two more of the four Symposium workshop meetings, starting with “The Role of the CA NCO in Multi-Domain and Joint All-Domain Operations.” Association Vice-President retired Army sergeant-major Timothy Kohring facilitates the newly established Non-Commissioned Officer Forum featuring key senior Army and Marine civil affairs NCO leaders.
The fourth and final workshop on Current CA Operations gathers perspectives from junior CA leaders from all major geographic regions with fresh experience in CA operations – including INDOPACOM, CENTCOM, EUCOM, SOUTHCOM, and AFRICOM. Budding Army Strategist Captain (P) James P. Micciche leads a discussion of featuring civil affairs professionals working closer to the ground in complex security cooperation and other missions of strategic influence.
The youth movement continues with the first of four panel webinars. Civil Affairs Association Director Mr. Ryan McCannell, from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), facilitates the well-established interagency coordination forum taking on “Young Leaders Working Across Gaps and Along Seams.” Although from Department of State and U.S. Agency for International Development, two of the three panelists also serve in Army and Marine reserve civil affairs units.
“Gender, Population Engagement, and Civil Affairs – Army Doctrinal Changes” is driven by the Army’s increased interest in the role of women in land warfare operations. Retired Army colonel Mr. Bill Hestwood, G-5, U.S. Army Combined Arms Center will explain the Army’s look at FM 3-57 and recent recommendations on gender engagement for CA Operations doctrine. CA leading women will then weigh in with their own observations on how the most underappreciated part of civil affairs as “a force for influence in competition” is in its proven potentiality to engage over half the world’s population.
Registration for the Civil Affairs Association’s annual fall Symposium from Monday-Wednesday, 5-7 October 2020 is free and for any or all parts of the full program.
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