What is Civil Affairs?

Hi! Thanks for the question.

In a diary published at the University of Wisconsin website, the page
has a description of what the civil affairs is in the military and its
role during the Gulf War of 1991.

“Civil Affairs is a small military branch that even most military
people know little about until they suddenly find that they need it.
It deals with any civilian issues that impact military operations. The
single most important role of civil affairs is keeping civilian
problems from interfering with military operations. It also serves to
help the U.S. military meet its moral and legal obligations under
international law. During World War II, Civil Affairs (or Military
Government as it was then called) actually ran the governments in
occupied areas. In Kuwait, it monitored relief operations, in
Kurdistan, it ran refugee camps, and in Bosnia, it was the interface
between the U.S. military presence and civilians.”

“Civil Affairs is hard to train for. It requires a generalist
approach, a wide-ranging knowledge base, and a flexible approach to
solving problems rather than any specific skills. There are 32 Civil
Affairs Battalions across the U.S. with about 3500 total personnel.”

“432nd Civil Affairs Company, 1990-1991”
http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/gulfwar/gulfindx.htm 

If war breaks out between the US and Iraq, here is the objective of
the civil affairs group according to the report by the North County
Times.

“If the U.S. military goes into Iraq, combat forces will be joined by
small groups of civil affairs experts who work as liaisons to help
Iraqi civilians steer clear of military operations and to help
organize efforts to rebuild communities after a war.”

“Local reservists prepare to move”
http://www.nctimes.net/news/2003/20030111/52013.html 

The following documents and links meanwhile are good background
information to learn about civil affairs.

U. S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command
(Airborne)
http://globalspecops.com/capcom.html 

“Civil Affairs: the Army's middlemen”
http://www.nato.int/sfor/indexinf/147/p06a/t02p06a.htm 

“Civil Affairs in the Gulf War”
http://www.army.mil/usar/history/weekly/2001/week06.html

In case you would want to join them, here are the Civil Affairs Units
in the US you may want to contact. The Civil Affairs Association
provides the list.

US Civil Affairs Units
http://www.civilaffairsassoc.org/caunits.htm 

Here is a link to Unit Vacancies provided by the US Army website.
http://www.army.mil/usar/vacancies.html 

Finally more information about the Civil Affairs units and a
discussion of their roles during times of war could be found in this
website. It even enumerates some of the usual roles such units play.

“The Unofficial Civil Affairs Page”
http://my.athenet.net/~bestul/ca.html 

Search terms used:        
“civil affairs” Iraq
   
I hope these links would help you in your research. Before rating this
answer, please ask for a clarification if you have a question or if 
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Regards,       
Easterangel-ga       
Google Answers Researcher

Timely response and useful insight with appropriate links provided.
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