Army MOS · Support

38S Civil Affairs Officer Special Operations

Current service use not established

This code is listed in the directory. Inclusion alone does not confirm current service use.

Overview

Civil affairs special operations officers command and employ civil affairs personnel, teams, and units while conducting operations across the continuum of conflict. They advise and assist local civil administrations with governance and plan, coordinate, command, control, evaluate, and transition civil affairs operations.

Minimum clearance: Top Secret

Core Skills

Local civil administration and governance restoration
Civil affairs coordination across interagency staffs
Civil affairs operation evaluation and transition

Civilian Career Paths

Career associations are editorial assessments of the cited evidence, not an official crosswalk unless the evidence explicitly says so. O*NET supplies civilian occupation information, not proof of a military match. Related experience does not confer civilian qualifications. Tasks and tools below describe civilian work, not military training.

Business Continuity Planners

Experience advising local administrations on restoring governance and planning, evaluating, and transitioning civil affairs operations transfers to continuity planning for essential organizational functions.

How to prepare: Build a sample continuity plan for a civil administration's critical functions, then test its recovery decisions and communications through a tabletop scenario.

What the civilian work involves

Develop emergency management plans for recovery decision making and communications, continuity of critical departmental processes, or temporary shut-down of non-critical departments to ensure continuity of operation and governance.
Test documented disaster recovery strategies and plans.
Establish, maintain, or test call trees to ensure appropriate communication during disaster.

Civilian tools and software (examples)

Microsoft Excel
Microsoft SharePoint

Notes & Sources

Evidence for this guidance (2 documents)

Army COOL MOC feed: 38S Civil Affairs Officer Special Operations
[1] data/authority/army-codes.json entry 38S (OSD COOL feed, fetched 2026-07-25); DB rank officer, authority codeType officer
Supports: Local civil administration and governance restoration, Civil affairs coordination across interagency staffs, Civil affairs operation evaluation and transition, Business Continuity Planners (O*NET 13-1199.04)
O*NET: Business Continuity Planners
[2] O*NET 30.3 occupational data
Supports: Business Continuity Planners (O*NET 13-1199.04)

Defense contractor jobs for 38S

Descriptions may be summarized for clarity. Verify all information with your branch career counselor or official military documentation before making career decisions.

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