Civilians provide crucial role in national defense

  • Published
  • By Jimmy Helton
  • 14th Logistics Readiness Squadron
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. (AFPN) --  When we talk about building leaders, we must address the total force. Today's military is a rich blend of active-duty, Guard, Reserve, civilian civil service and contractors supporting military operations.

The civilian workforce is a crucial link in national defense. The Department of Defense employs more than 800,000 civilians around the world. One quarter of the total DOD workforce is made up of civilians developing and maintaining sophisticated systems, managing complex programs and handling the feeding, housing and paying of members.

Many civilians are subjected to the same risks as military members, and several thousand civilians deployed during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

Any future war will take all of the military commitment, meaning the civilian workforce will be called into harm's way.

The civilian workforce is extremely talented. Nearly 80,000 hold advanced degrees and more than 250,000 have at least a bachelor's degree. Here, more than 47 percent of the workforce consists of civil service or civilian contractors. To get ready for the 21st century, we must plan now to produce future civilian leaders.

The Air Force will demand civilian leaders be both technically and managerially adept, well educated and possess broad and diverse experience. Development and training at career milestones is essential to achieving this objective. We must instill the same institutional commitment and responsibility in civilian employees as in military people.

The responsibility for identifying candidates for appropriate development rests with commanders and managers. The force is very capable; however, there is concern that 45 percent of the civilian workforce is eligible for retirement in five years.

The civilian force is rich in terms of experience -- one of its greatest strengths. And it is important to manage the force to sustain this experience level. A unified military-civilian team is essential to the mission.

A mass exodus of the civilian sector would leave a giant "skills gap" in the workforce. We must start mentoring, educating and training young workforce members to perform as well as their predecessors. We must also consider training military people who may one day serve as civilian employees.

Successful companies know their workforce is their most important asset, and so they use education and professional development programs to attract and retain quality people. Invest your leadership abilities, time, resources and dollars in the personal and professional development of your civilian workforce for tomorrow's Air Force. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)