Civilian Reserve

Hey everyone. Havent been around in a while, but I was watching the state of the union last night and the president said something that caught my attention that I wasnt aware of. He said he wanted to form a civilian reserve for "missions abroad". I did a little research (not much) and found out that it was actually Gen. Wesley Clark's idea.

Now heres my boggle. You guys think there might be an "armed wing" to this reserve project? Sounds kinda out there I know, but I think its possible. Think about it, if you are sending "civilians" to carry out a military op, I'm not sure they are bound by the Geneva Convention. Looks like a way around asking permision to cary out clandestine projects.

Im probably way over thinking this. Just looking for what you guys think about it.

Cylent.

i can't fathom what their operations would be. Crazy old Bush has a lot of wacked out ideas but he's just throwing around other people's ideas now that his tenure is coming to an end. this is just a fantasy like his plan for gasoline consumption to be cut by 20% in 10 years.

I'd think that the civilian reserve would do things like work on engineering projects, public aid projects, advising governmental groups and political organizations, mediating disputes, etc, in territories where the military is, no?

Originally posted by Cylent773
He said he wanted to form a civilian reserve for "missions abroad".

Originally posted by Nygdan
I'd think that the civilian reserve would do things like work on engineering projects, public aid projects, advising governmental groups and political organizations, mediating disputes, etc, in territories where the military is, no?

IMHO, I think that was Bush's way of redefining what "draft" means.

What else could it mean? If the general populous (or civilians as Bush puts it) wanted to be part of the military, wouldn't they have already signed up?

My impression is its just expansion in the availability of civilian/military contracts. Kinda like the New Deal but with more military ties.

I work in a library. If theyll give me like 80,000/year to help set up a library in Baghdad sign me up.