Pictured: Left to right: Steven Welch and Desiree Bamba, interns with the Georgia Department of Defense Public Affairs Office (PAO) and students of Kennesaw State University, and Seth Stuck, Command Information Officer.
Civilians serve in the military too. Sort of…
More than 500 state employees work for the Georgia Department of Defense (Ga. DoD) in a wide range of capacities. Most Georgians might not even know there is such a thing as a state DoD because the National Guard is the driving force within the organization.
The Ga. DoD is comprised of three primary components: the Georgia Air National Guard, Georgia Army National Guard, and the all-volunteer Georgia State Defense Force. With such visible and important flag-bearers, it’s easy to see how the hundreds of state employees who serve them are often overlooked.
But state employees provide a crucial, strategically significant role in the Defense community. In addition to providing top-tier service and subject matter expertise, these civilians provide continuity to an organization that is otherwise in constant flux. Whereas a given Army or Air position is likely to change hands every couple years, state employee positions tend to be more stable – with some employees serving more than a decade or even two in the same position. As a result, state employees become the “constant” in various offices after military personnel are rotated in and out around deployments, promotions, training, etc. – making state employees the gatekeepers of valuable institutional and functional knowledge.
All in all, the state employees of the Georgia Department of Defense provide a valuable and meaningful service to their state, their nation and – particularly – their National Guard.
