7-3. Commanders conducting offensive tasks employ the four defeat mechanisms—destroy, dislocate, disintegrate, and isolate—in various combinations to accomplish their mission against enemy opposition. (Chapter 1 discusses these four mechanisms.) Commanders seize, retain, and exploit the initiative when performing offensive tasks. Specific offensive tasks may orient on a specific enemy force or terrain feature as a means of affecting the enemy. Even when performing primarily defensive tasks, wresting the initiative from the enemy requires the performance of offensive tasks. The offense can also be used to support friendly operations in other domains, including air, maritime, space, cyberspace, and the information environment by employing the defeat mechanisms against key points or assets that support an enemy’s operations.