[Inside Government] Civilian Service in the Navy: Modernising an Institution






Civilian Service in the Navy:
Modernising an Institution

Written by Istillian




(Europeia - February 19, 2022) On November 8, 2021, newly appointed Grand Admiral Darcness stepped into the role of leading the Europeian Republican Navy (ERN) for the first time. This appointment had been made after a somewhat tumultuous year for the role of Grand Admiral, changing hands on multiple occasions because of the political demands, the overburdening of tasks and expectations on one individual, and burnout, to name just a few of the reported reasons listed in resignation threads. In his opening speech, then-Grand Admiral Darcness said: "One thing I have noticed consistently is that the Grand Admiral does a lot of work. The thing I have also noticed is that they seem to do this all alone, and as the number of viable Grand Admirals continues to shrink, the more evident it becomes that this trend is not sustainable."

Darcness was then quick to review the areas that needed support most, and appointed a director of intelligence, personnel, and recruiting, all from the pool of commanders at his disposal. This was a key turning point in the administration of our navy, and Darcness recognised the logistical and operational demands of his role, and that being in leadership didn't necessarily mean that you needed to purely run military engagements and operations, rather, you needed to run an entire organisation. In Darcness' campaign for President, he made the strong message that the ERN would decentralise the administration efforts of the navy with the addition of civilians to carry out non-operational orders, with the intention that this would free up the schedule of our active personnel to take their time to the battlefield. With the earlier creation of the ERN Civilian Service on November 12, Darcness had created a shift in how Europeian's could assist in the capability of the navy, and then took this success into his presidential term with him.

Under Darcness' term as president, Writinglegend then took up the post of Grand Admiral, overseeing the Civilian Service program and adding further civilian personnel to be called on to assist with its success. Under Writinglegend, both Captain UPC and then-Technician Sarah were quick to adapt the ERN's personnel rosters and tracking forms for the review and insight of commanders, as well as for the utilisation of the Fleet Wars initiative when tracking promotions and the number of operations attended by sailors. Writinglegend saw success with a thriving and reliable naval force, deputies assigned in a way they hadn't been for quite some time, and active commanders then posted into director positions that took advantage of their specific expertise.

When running his campaign, President Common-Sense Politics (CSP), alongside his running-mate Writinglegend, was eager to dig deeper into the utilisation of a civilian structure for the ERN, but importantly, held the expectation that all executive officeholders would participate in the civilian service. Having seen a slight drop off in applications, and an unclear aim by the end of Darcness' term as president, CSP set out to provide a "direct and feasible agenda in order to encourage participation", and more specifically, wanted the navy to adapt, and take the creative talents of individuals either not able to be engaged in warfare, or not wanting to join as active duty, to work on graphics design, communications, recruitment and intelligence fields where they may have the relevant experience. The crux of Darcness' ideas were here, and now had been adapted and developed for a more modernised institution.

Comparatively, when looking at military organisations abroad, many regions that primarily focus on military activity and remain successful cannot be sustained from just providing personnel at update periods for military activity alone (even if this may be their main purpose both politically, and for activity generating), especially when the demands of being available at an update time don't really allow for a flexible schedule. To back up this claim, the Europeian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) spoke to First Warden Grea Kriopia of The Order of the Grey Wardens (TGW), about her experiences when managing one of the oldest, and arguably most successful Defender organisations in the game, particularly regarding the utilisation of personnel that aren't able to be a part of their regular updates.

"Much of TGW's success can be contributed to our non-updaters/WA-locked just as much as it can to our regulars. There has always been space for those unable to attend updates to help us grow by doing recruitment, creating public content, running domestic programs, and whipping critical updaters to show up for large operations. Even our delegate, Aramantha aka Thousand Branches, is a huge help running crowd-control during hectic updates. The value of a wholistic approach to growing and maintaining a military can't be understated when considering the benefits of increased outreach, retention, and workforce participation."

Darcness' approach to enlisting civilian personnel that aren't a part of an active military force isn't new, especially when noting the experiences abroad from institutions like TGW, but it was the dynamic approach of capturing these experiences from other organisations, and bringing them to the ERN that led to its newfound success. Now under the guidance of both CSP and Grand Admiral Kuramia this term, the EBC approached Kuramia to get a better idea of how the Civilian Service is being directed, how it is currently benefiting the ERN as an organisation, and why it is essential to the functioning of a more modernised naval force going forward.

"What my aim for the Civilian Service this term is to expand it. There were lots of questions of what goals the Service would have and how it could be aimed by people who either had been in last term or were interested this term. Since we had specific platform goals, I used that as a guide to break the Service into four interests: intel, communications, recruitment, and graphic design. I don't want anyone coming into the Service and questioning what they can do. There are specific skillsets and then we just post a need and have someone fill it. I also opened it up so even those in active duty or reserves in the Navy could still participate in the Civilian Service, though I don't think that was explicitly barred before, just perhaps inferred by the title."

This seemed to track consistently with Grea Kriopia's comments surrounding the longstanding and successful leadership and management of TGW, and Kuramia was quick to provide further insight here too. "Not only does the Service get the benefit of those experienced in the Navy, but it offers a way for people who have to step back, or can't participate because of update times, a way to contribute a great deal. Simply stated, the Civilian Service is open for every Europeian Citizen and it's no different from the work that might be found throughout the region anyways, just focused toward our military. As our military becomes more prominent with the addition of the F/S update, more citizens that can't always make update times should be encouraged to work with the military for needed tasks outside updates. For me, I see these activities as simple to accomplish and as important as recruiting for the region. It's an easy way to contribute a lot to the region."

From an organisation that was putting the weight and responsibility of an entire military force on to one individual alone, to finding a way to gather the creative energy of its citizens into one place, well, it's a sure-fire way to see success. The advances both CSP and Kuramia have made already this term by ensuring all executive staff weigh in and contribute, and by directing sailors and civilians, not only provides an incredible opportunity to work closely with the leaders in our region, but a more flexible, adaptable, and dynamic naval force.

 
This is amazing, and definitely highlights how useful the Civilian Service is!
 
I love this article Ist! It was a very nice touch to hear from Grea Kriopia about TGW's experiences of this sort of thing too :)
 
This was really interesting! I really haven't followed the navy in years so I learned a lot 😅
 
Awesome article! Civilian participation is something that's lowkey ignored by a lot of regions when building up their militaries, so glad to see ERN making strides in it!
 
It's been a great innovation and I'm excited to see how we'll develop it further!
 
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