Preparing for an Era of Persistent Conflict

Focus beyond federal agencies that are normally thought of as those involved in reconstruction and stability operations is needed when it comes to legislation improving civilian deployment capacity. The variables that affect civilian deployment capacity to a war zone are shared by all federal agencies no matter what mission is pursued. Seven federal agencies pursuing various U.S. national security objectives in Afghanistan were chosen for a comparative review.This comparative review was conducted to illustrate two points. One, that good practices exist and if shared, are potentially applicable to all agencies for fixing short-term gaps in civilian deployment capacity and two, that discrepancies that erode civilian deployment capacity exist beyond the scope officially explored to date. Civilian deployment protocols are compared and contrasted, "best" practices are proposed, and suggestions for new incentives are introduced.Emphasis is placed on the fact that discrepancies in benefits can erode civilian volunteerism to serve in war-zones. If legislation is to be considered and passed to benefit civilians and civilian deployment capacity, more comprehensive studies on the existing differences need to be conducted, to include studies on the short- and long-term effects of war-zone deployment on civilians, their families, their mental health, and effects on retention rates in federal government service.