April 8,2008:
The new U.S. Air For Cyber Command
is asking for some leeway in recruiting standards and military lifestyle, in
order to get the kind of airmen they need. In a word, the air force needs
geeks, and many of the recruits being sought could not pass the physical
fitness test, or tolerate the usual military discipline. The air force could
hire Internet engineers and hackers as civilians, and sign them to contracts
that would be the equivalent of the kind of control and security they have over
military personnel. That's probably what will happen, as that is the approach
long used to get technical personnel who can do the job, but are not willing to
do it in uniform, as part of a military unit, with military discipline and all
of that.
In fact,
most military personnel these days could just as well be civilians. Armies have
always had civilians along, to perform support functions. The historical term
is "camp followers." In times past, the ratio of civilians to soldiers was
often much higher, like eight civilians for every one soldier. Only the most
disciplined armies (like the ancient Romans at their peak), kept the ratio
closer to one to one. But when conscript armies became common in the 19th
century, it was suddenly cheaper to replace many of those civilians with
conscripts (who were paid a nominal wage.) Now that armies are going
all-volunteer, it's gone back to the old days, where it's cheaper to have
civilians perform a lot of support jobs.
This is a trend that's been going on in the American armed forces even before
conscription was eliminated 35 years ago. The effort to recruit more Internet
geeks will end up gathering up more camp followers, who will stay "in the camp"
to do their job, and never need venture into a combat zone where the warriors are
working.