Photo By Robert Hill | The Army Expeditionary Civilian Program provides combatant commanders with greater...... read more read more
WASHINGTON – In his book, "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Others Don’t," Jim Collins defines breakthrough as the momentum achieved through the accumulation of small efforts applied in a consistent manner and direction by an entire organization. With several key accomplishments this year, the Army Expeditionary Civilian Workforce (AECW) Directorate and the program it oversees achieved breakthrough in 2024, enhancing the Army’s ability to support ongoing and contingency missions around the globe.
The AECW Directorate’s mission is to provide strategic direction and execution of the program, to include the training, mobilization and reintegration of Department of the Army Expeditionary Civilians (DA-ECs) who deploy in support of military forces conducting operations abroad. When requested, it also trains, mobilizes and reintegrates ECs assigned to the other military services and fourth estate agencies. Additionally, the AECW Directorate trains and validates command-identified emergency-essential (E-E) employees. The AECW Directorate is part of the Department of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff G-1 and currently has presence in Washington, D.C., Camp Atterbury, Ind., and Fort Knox, Ky.
Breakthrough began with foundational activities, such as ongoing support to current operations. In 2024, the AEC Workforce Directorate readied and deployed just under 600 expeditionary civilians (Army and non-Army) to support the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM), U.S. European Command (USEUCOM), U.S. Africa Command (USAFRICOM) and U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM). Most of these deployments were to USCENTCOM and USEUCOM to fill EC requirements in such locations as Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Tajikistan, Romania, Poland, Germany and the Netherlands. The Directorate also redeployed and reintegrated over 500 civilians in 2024.
To ensure consistent execution of its foundational activities, the Directorate revised and improved Army Regulation (AR) 690-11, "Department of the Army Expeditionary Civilians," which was re-published in June 2024. The revised AR codifies the AECW Directorate’s mission and responsibilities; improves the AR’s organization, flow and quality of the information; defines EC categories and their criteria; and expands the role of ECs, as well as guidance for identifying EC-eligible positions. The revised AR also directs the inclusion of E-E position requirements in theater Army contingency plans.
Breakthrough also involved the AECW Directorate’s responsibility for providing initial, as well as annual refresher E-E employee training and validation. In 2024, the AECW Directorate trained and validated over 590 E-E employees. As this represents a fraction of the Army’s E-E employee population, the AECW Directorate will scale up this training and validation in 2025. Helping with this effort is the Army’s new Civilian Personnel Readiness Assessment, a catalyst for improving command E-E employee validation rates across the Army. This initiative serves as a forcing function for enhancing E-E employee readiness through the monitoring and tracking of E-E employee validation rates to ensure E-E employees are prepared to deploy at a moment’s notice.
Due to the Army’s proven success in managing its EC program, the Director, DoD Expeditionary Civilian Program Office, reached out to the AECW Directorate seeking to partner on the rewrite of DoD Instruction 1404.AA, "DoD Expeditionary Civilian Workforce," and creation of a new companion guide, "DoD Expeditionary Civilian Program Civilian Personnel Handbook." Both were completed in record time, sent out for staffing and are awaiting imminent publication.
In late 2024, the AECW Directorate reinitiated a series of live and virtual recruiting events that will carry forward into 2025. The first such event was held at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., followed by Fort Belvoir and the Pentagon in Virginia, and a virtual session on MS Teams. In total, over 600 civilians attended these events and had their questions answered about becoming a volunteer deployer. Anticipated in-person events for early 2025 include Fort Cavazos and Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; Fort Gregg-Adams and Fort Eustis, Va.; and Fort Eisenhower and Fort Moore, Ga. More will follow throughout the year.
To learn more about becoming an Army Expeditionary Civilian, read the articles at the links below. Also, stay tuned for a possible recruiting event at your location. When ready to volunteer, email usarmy.in.hqda.mbx.aecw-deployments@army.mil to request a list of current deployment opportunities and to submit your request-for-deployment packet.
• “Close the Skills Gap with Expeditionary Civilians,” Military Review: https://www.armyupress.army.mil/journals/military-review/online-exclusive/2024-ole/close-the-skills-gap-with-expeditionary-civilians/
• “Army Expeditionary Civilian Workforce Program: The basics”: https://www.army.mil/article/279723/army_expeditionary_civilian_workforce_program_the_basics
| Date Taken: | 12.19.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 12.19.2024 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 488026 |
| Location: | WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, US |
| Web Views: | 39 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Army Expeditionary Civilian Workforce Directorate Achieves Breakthrough in 2024, by Robert Hill, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
