Rank Third Semester Exam How Does Command

¶ … Rank

Third Semester Exam

How does Command and Control and Intelligence help the JFC and staff integrate, synchronize and direct joint operations?

Joint Force Commands seek to utilize the full spectrum of abilities and strengths that our military possesses across the entire range of the battlefield. Therefore, JFCs typically focus their efforts in particular types of operations and hold back in others. Thus major operation and campaign tactics must utilize the correct balance between offense, defense and stability operations at all points in planning. It is crucial that planning for stability operations be initiated when joint operation planning begins and not to allow a simple focus on offense and defense obfuscate planning. JFCs must possess a strategic long view and anticipate the switch from combat operations (whether offensive or defensive) to the end of joint operations and the reinstitution of civilian control. A myopic focus on planning offensive and defensive operations in the "dominate" phase may risk development of further plans for the "stabilize" and "enable civil authority" phases and ultimately weaken the entire joint operation. JFCs must ensure that even during combat operations that there will be a need to establish security and provide humanitarian support as the enemy is displaced and territory taken.

Major operations and campaigns, whether or not they involve large-scale ground combat, normally will include some level of both offense and defense. Although defense may be the stronger force posture, the offense is normally decisive in combat. Further, protection includes certain defensive measures that are required throughout each joint operation or campaign phase. The relationship between offense and defense, then, is a complementary one. Offensive land operations are combat operations conducted to defeat and destroy enemy land forces and seize terrain, resources and population centers. Offensive land operations impose the commander's will on the enemy. Against a capable, adaptive enemy, the offense is the most direct and sure means of seizing, retaining, and exploiting the initiative to achieve decisive results. Executing offensive land operations compels the enemy to react, creating or revealing weakness that the entire attacking joint force can exploit. Successful ground offensive operations place tremendous pressure on defenders, creating a cycle of deterioration that can lead to their disintegration.

At the operational and strategic level of war, the military must be capable of deploying and fighting to gain access to geographic areas controlled by hostile forces. Forcible entry is the seizing and holding of a military lodgment in the face of armed opposition. Forcible entry operations are normally joint in nature and range in scope from an operation designed as an initial phase of a campaign or major operation to a coup de main in which the decisive results are accomplished in one swift stroke. Armed Forces of the United States maintain three primary forcible entry capabilities or options. These are amphibious assault, airborne assault, and air assault. Local air and/or maritime superiority are essential for the duration of the entry operation. JFCs typically seek to attain more comprehensive control of the potential operating environment, permitting as many such options as possible to frustrate opposing defense planning.

Stability operations cannot occur if significant enemy forces directly threaten or attack the local populace. Offensive land control operations destroy or isolate the enemy so stability operations can proceed by denying enemy forces the opportunity to seize additional terrain, moving them out of population centers of gravity (COGs), and forcing enemy forces to defend. In short, the entire offensive, defensive and stability spectrum of joint operations requires meticulous command, control and intelligence to properly achieve mission objectives.

2) Compare and contrast the MDMP with the JOPP.

To understand the significance and impact the JFHQ transformation process has had on operational planning, a comparison of the old and new planning formats is necessary. Although they both appear to be similar in format and content, they are significantly different. The Army planning process (called MDMP) is a planning model that establishes procedures for analyzing a mission, developing, analyzing, and comparing courses of action against criteria of success and each other, selecting the optimum course of action, and producing a plan or order. The MDMP applies across the spectrum of conflict and range of military operations. Commanders with an assigned staff use the MDMP to organize their planning activities, share a common understanding of the mission and commander's intent, and develop effective plans and orders.

There are seven steps listed in the MDMP. They are: 1) receipt of the mission, 2) mission analysis, 3) course of action development, 4) course of action analysis, 5) course of action comparison, 6) course of action approval, and 7) orders production. The formal process always begins with step 1, receipt of the mission and moves through the subsequent steps until the process is complete. Each step begins with inputs that build on previous steps. The outputs of each step drive subsequent steps. Errors committed in earlier steps will affect the outputs of later steps. Although the steps are listed in sequence, they do not necessarily stop when the next step starts. Some steps, mission analysis for instance, occur throughout the entire process. It is convenient to describe the MDMP in terms of steps; nonetheless, planners compare the process to current requirements, set priorities, and perform the necessary tasks in an order that produces the required product on time. Each staff member has specific tasks that need to be accomplished for the MDMP to move forward. These tasks ensure that planners have the most current information and provide the rest of the staff with critical information on which to base their decisions. The staff performs the following critical tasks during planning: Develop and maintain staff estimates, Identify specified and implied tasks/constraints, Identify key facts and assumptions, Perform intelligence preparation of the battlefield; Formulate the concepts of operations and support in line with the commander's intent. The performance of these tasks throughout the MDMP steps ensure that the staff considers all aspects of the military mission and provides the best possible solution based on the information provided. They also provide the basis for the orders production process, the last step in the MDMP.