Posted on Feb 7, 2014
SFC Founder
15.8K
137
86
5
5
0
Should the Military take over functions currently run by Civilians? Considering my recent experience dealing with backstabbing Civilians, I think that they should reduce the Civilian Workforce and turn over certain functions bsck to Military control.
Posted in these groups: Military leadership skills civilian employment CiviliansSecurity contractors Contractors
Edited 10 y ago
Avatar feed
Responses: 53
SSG Cannon Crew Member
7
7
0
Edited 10 y ago
cut them, the military was just fine many years ago without them and NCO's and officers were FORCED to be more professional, both Tactically and Technically. Now that the military has all of these civilians, people rely on them to do OUR jobs for us. Its great that there are jobs for us when we retire, but Soldiers need to take care of Soldiers. Civilians arent going to deploy with us, and they usually have that asshole attitude thinking we owe them something anyway. Well, we owe you a thank you, but ya know that big check you're taking home when a Soldier can get paid half, yeah, we can cut that...<br>
(7)
Comment
(0)
SPC(P) Motor Transport Operator
SPC(P) (Join to see)
10 y
Amen
(1)
Reply
(0)
CW3 Kim B.
CW3 Kim B.
7 y
Costs more to have military doing many of these jobs than it does civilians. No BAH, BAS, housing allotment and healthcare. Plus training costs because civilians don't PCS.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CPT Safety Specialist, Gs 12
6
6
0
I have had many thoughts on this topic for the last 10 years. As an Engineer, we were able to do projects for tennant units at one time. Build a sidewalk here, throw up some walls in an office there. All that changed around 2003 when contractors started supporting Garrisons while units deployed. Now, if an Engineer squad is caught fixing a sidewalk near a bowling alley on post, the Contractors will file a union grievance against the Army.
(6)
Comment
(0)
SPC(P) Motor Transport Operator
SPC(P) (Join to see)
10 y
I'm deployed now, I'm in trans. working on the biggest military movement of equipment in history. One thing that gets me pissed off is I deployed to do a job, for my MOS I trained for. Yet I go on a mission, we can't do a thing cause we need a contractor to operate the equipment, we need a contractor to be the safety, and we need team of contractors to be the ground workers. Last time I checked, in the Army we are all safety officers, we can all operate the equipment since was trained on it. But 3 hrs later I'm sitting and waiting while I have all the soldiers to conduct said mission. It is a waste of time and government funds.
(2)
Reply
(0)
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
7 y
Contractors normally do not have unions. The DPW was probably union.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small
CPT Company Commander
4
4
0
Edited 10 y ago
<p>I would have to agree. The DOD employs over 800,000 civilians which amounts to one civilian for every two service members (of all branches). That number is considerably greater that any other&nbsp;federal department.&nbsp;Since the big topic in the news is slashing the DOD's budget, it makes a lot of&nbsp;sense to trim that number down by a few hundred thousand. Especially for positions that were created to give a&nbsp;former Officer/NCO a&nbsp;job when they retire. </p><p><br></p><p>For instance, there are many Commanding Generals with Deputy Commanders that aren't Army Officers at all, they're&nbsp;DA civilians. This has always puzzled me since AR 600-20 requires a Commander to be a uniform&nbsp;Officer. When that CG is gone, who is in charge? AR 600-20 prohibits that civilian from holding a Command position. Perhaps someone could shed some light on this?</p>
(4)
Comment
(0)
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
7 y
I think you have not seen the whole Army. The Army Material Command is a 4 star command, just like FORSCOM and TRADOC. The CIV SES Deputies are normally quite competent and have years in the organization. In AMC most of the 2 star commands had Civ Deputies. In fact, my unit with a 2 star G.O. leading an 11,000 person organization, only had around 300 green suiters. The Chaplin Assistant was probably the junior enlisted. I never saw anyone junior to him. AMC and Research and Development Command have a lot of civil service employees...and contractors. Civil Service takes the leadership positions. In R&D, are you going to find a lot of PhD scientist? How many PhDs in your unit? I have seen some crazy units. I retired military and later retired Civ Service. I was the G-2 of a 2 star command...as a GG-15. I was surprised when I got hired, because I thought I was going to be a deputy.

Remember, the rest of the gov has ALL Civil Service and no Generals, the Directors are all GS and SES. I have worked at DHS and DOE. I worked directly for the Under Secretary, who was also a Civ at DoEnergy. I found out my 21 years of active duty did not teach me much about our Gov. I was amazed how much I learned after the military.
(1)
Reply
(0)
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
SSgt GG-15 RET Jim Lint
7 y
When RDECOM lost their 2 star.... a civil service SES was appointed by Sec Army and Commander AMC (4star) as the Director of RDECOM.
(0)
Reply
(0)
Avatar small

Join nearly 2 million former and current members of the US military, just like you.

close