It's a very practical approach in my opinion. Many (hopefully all) reserve troops have civilian skills whch may or may not be put to good use in supporting roles. Not very many civilian skills are likely to see a lot of use at the sharp end ona regular basis.
Here in Australia there has been a move to "demilitarise" many support type jobs. One that springs to mind is the massive reduction in the Catering Corp back in the late 80's early 90's. Where previously there wasn't a civilian in sight, by the mid 90's most of the messes I attended had roughly 1 senior soldier (usually a Warrant Officer or Staff Sergeant) to about 10 civilian cooks, cleaners, dishwashers, etc. The majority of the civilians were ex-prisoners out on parole, so I can't say it was exactly quality being produced...
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If it moves, shoot it, if not push it, if it still doesn't move, use explosives.
Nothing happens in isolation - it's called "the butterfly effect"
Mors ante pudorem
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