5-2. Everything related to the conduct of operations is part of an operational environment, the one category that accounts for all political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and time (known as PMESII PT or operational variables) considerations that influence operations and training for operations. These variables need to be captured and continuously updated by analysis in running estimates and understood by the commander and staff even before the assignment of a mission. Operational variables may reside in any of the domains (air, land, maritime, space, and cyberspace). Once a mission is assigned, a commander and staff’s analysis is framed by the mission variables (known as METT-TC), which narrows down the operational variables to those that affect a specific mission.