9-145. The staff considers all possible forces, including templated enemy forces outside the area of operations, that can influence the operation. The staff also considers the actions of civilians in the area of operations, the diverse kinds of coverage of unfolding events, and their consequences in the global media. The staff evaluates each friendly move to determine the assets and actions required to defeat the enemy at that point or to accomplish stability tasks. The staff continually considers branches to the plan that promote success against likely enemy counteractions or unexpected civilian reactions. Lastly, the staff lists assets used in the appropriate columns of the work sheet and lists the totals in the assets column (not considering any assets lower than two command levels below the staff).

1-58. The dominate phase focuses on breaking an enemy’s will to resist or, in noncombat situations, to control an OE. Success in the dominate phase depends on overmatching enemy capabilities at the right time and place. Operations can range from large-scale combat to various stability activities, depending on the nature of the enemy and the OE. Dominate phase activities may establish the conditions to achieve strategic objectives early, or they may set the conditions for transition to the next phase of the operation.

2-48. Transitions mark a change of focus between phases or between the ongoing operation and execution of a branch or sequel. Shifting priorities among offensive, defensive, stability, and DSCA tasks also involve transitions. Transitions require planning and preparation well before their execution, so the force can maintain the momentum and tempo of operations. The force is vulnerable during transitions, and commanders establish clear conditions for their execution.

1-45. Army doctrine addresses decisive action as described in ADP 3-0. Army commanders at all echelons may combine different types of operations simultaneously and sequentially to accomplish missions. For each mission, the joint force commander and Army component commander determine the emphasis Army forces place on each type of operation. Missions in any environment require Army special operations forces to be prepared to conduct any combination of offensive, defensive, stability, or defense support of civil authorities tasks.

2-14. During consolidating gains, stability activities often become the primary Army tasks. Military forces quickly seize the initiative to improve the civil situation while preventing conditions from deteriorating further. Army units protect the population from violence and restore public order while providing for immediate needs. Consolidate gains is demonstrated by the execution of tasks that address the needs of the host nation and its population. It is often the transition from the occupation of territory and control of populations by land component forces, gained as a result of military operations, to control by legitimate authorities.

1-28. An operation is a sequence of tactical actions with a common purpose of unifying theme (JP 1). Army forces, as part of the joint and multinational force, contribute to the joint mission through the conduct of unified land operations. Unified land operations is the Army's operational concept and contribution to unified action; it is how the Army applies combat power. Unified land operations is the simultaneous execution of offense, defense, stability, and defense support of civil authorities across multiple domains to shape operational environments, prevent conflict, prevail in large-scale ground combat, and consolidate gains as part of unified action (ADP 3-0). The goal of unified land operations is to establish conditions that achieve the joint force commander's end state by applying landpower as part of a unified action to defeat the enemy. Military forces seek to prevent or deter threats through unified action, and, when necessary, execute operations to defeat aggression.

4-19. In applying operational art during stability, commanders and their staffs use intellectual tools to help them understand an operational environment as well as visualize and describe their operational approach. An operational approach is a broad description of the mission, operational concepts, tasks, and actions required to accomplish the mission (JP 5-0). The elements of operational art are essential to identifying tasks and objectives that tie stability missions to achieving the desired end state. They help refine and focus the concept of operations forming the basis for developing a detailed plan or order. During execution, commanders and staffs consider the elements of operational art as they assess the situation. They adjust current and future operations and plans as the operation unfolds.

4-124. The primary consolidation of gains activities during operations to prevent are those taken to ensure that Army planning accounts for tasks that enable the consolidation of gains. This planning should include considering follow-on forces specifically task-organized to consolidate gains. Planning for the early and effective consolidation of gains enables the achievement of lasting favorable outcomes. The manner in which units execute missions, particularly how positively they interact with local populations and host-nation forces, significantly influences the perceptions of those affected by friendly operations. Early deploying units possess the capability to conduct security and stability tasks as needed. How units are organized and prepared for offensive, defensive, or stability tasks simplifies or complicates future security and stability outcomes.

9-111. Planners may use both lines of operations and lines of effort to build their broad concept. Lines of operations portray the more traditional links among objectives, decisive points, and centers of gravity. A line of effort, however, helps planners link multiple tasks with goals, objectives, and end state conditions. Combining lines of operations with lines of effort allows planners to include nonmilitary activities in their broad concept. This combination helps commanders incorporate stability or defense support of civil authorities tasks that, when accomplished, help set end state conditions of an operation.

1-159. The consolidation area does not necessarily need to surround, nor contain, the support area base clusters, but typically it does. It requires a purposefully task-organized, combined arms unit to conduct area security and stability tasks and employ and clear fires. This unencumbers units conducting close operations and enables the higher echelon headquarters to focus on close operations, deep operations, and future planning. The additional combat power (BCTs or divisions) necessary to execute consolidation of gains is additional to the required combat power needed for close and deep operations. The theater army and GCC must include the expected force requirements to consolidate gains during operation plan (OPLAN) refinement and operations to shape and prevent to ensure these additional forces are included in the required forces to successfully conduct large-scale combat operations. In large-scale combat operations, a maneuver enhancement brigade is assigned to the support area, and it provides support to forces in contact with the enemy. Thus, a division or corps headquarters would receive an additional suborinate unit (BCT or division, respectively) responsibility for the consolidation area. For example, a division headquarters would receive an additional BCT, and assign that BCT an AO that corresponds with the division’s consolidation area.

11-12. Most often, Army commanders will be faced with deciding when and where to employ military deception in support of tactical operations. The intent of tactical deception is to induce the enemy decisionmakers to act in a manner prejudicial to their interests. This is accomplished by either increasing or decreasing the ambiguity of the enemy decisionmaker through the manipulation, distortion, or falsification of evidence. Military deception undertaken at the tactical level supports engagements, battles, and stability tasks. This focus is what differentiates tactical deception from other forms of military deception. (See JP 3-13.4 for more information on military deception.)

1-11. While the Army may conduct combat operations at various levels across the range of military operations, Army forces must be manned, equipped, and trained for large-scale ground combat. During large-scale ground combat operations, Army forces focus on the defeat and destruction of enemy ground forces as part of the joint team. Army forces close with and destroy enemy forces, exploit success, and break an opponent’s will to resist. Army forces attack, defend, conduct stability tasks, and consolidate gains to achieve national objectives.

1-68. An operation is a sequence of tactical actions with a common purpose or unifying theme (JP 1). Army forces, as part of the joint and multinational force, contribute to the joint mission through the conduct of unified land operations. Unified land operations are simultaneous offensive, defensive, and stability or defense support of civil authorities’ tasks to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative to shape the operational environment, prevent conflict, consolidate gains, and win our Nation’s wars as part of unified action (ADRP 3-0). +The goal of unified land operations is to apply land power as part of unified action to defeat an enemy on land and establish conditions that achieve the JFC’s end state.

3-17. Security cooperation is all Department of Defense interactions with foreign security establishments to build security relationships that promote specific United States security interests, develop allied and partner nation military and security capabilities for self-defense and multinational operations, and provide United States forces with peacetime and contingency access to allied and partner nations (JP 3-20). These efforts may include Army forces participating in joint and multinational exercises and employing regionally aligned forces. Conducting security cooperation is one of the Army’s primary stability tasks. Security cooperation is governed by various sections of Title 10, USC; Title 22, USC; and specific public laws addressing Department of Defense (DOD) interactions with other nations. (See JP 3-20 for more information on security cooperation.)

5-25. +The consolidation of gains is an integral part of all operations. Corps and division headquarters assign purposefully task-organized forces designated consolidation areas to begin consolidate gains activities concurrent with large-scale combat operations. Consolidate gains activities provide freedom of action and higher tempo for those forces committed to the close, deep, and support areas. Units begin consolidate gains activities after achieving a minimum level of control and when there are no on-going large-scale combat operations in a specific portion of their AO. Corps and divisions can designate a maneuver force responsible for consolidation areas. Forces assigned the mission of consolidating gains execute area security and stability tasks. This enables freedom of action for units in the other corps and division areas by allowing them to focus on their assigned tasks and expediting the achievement of the overall purpose of the operation. Initially the focus is on combined arms operations against bypassed enemy forces, defeated remnants, and irregular forces to defeat threats against friendly forces in the support and consolidation areas, as well as those short of the rear boundaries of BCT in the close area. Friendly forces may eventually create or reconstitute an indigenous security force through security cooperation activities as the overall focus of operations shifts from large-scale combat operations to consolidating gains. Optimally, a division commander would assign a BCT to secure a consolidation area. A division is the preferred echelon for this mission in a corps AO. The requirement for additional forces to consolidate gains as early as possible should be accounted for early during planning with appropriate force tailoring by the theater army.

4-43. Defeat mechanisms primarily apply in combat operations against an active enemy force. A defeat mechanism is the method through which friendly forces accomplish their mission against enemy opposition (ADP 3-0). They are defined in terms of the broad operational and tactical effects they produce—physical or psychological. Commanders translate these effects into tactical tasks, formulating the most effective method to defeat enemy aims. Physical defeat deprives enemy forces of the ability to achieve those aims; psychological defeat deprives them of the will to do so. Military forces prove most successful when applying deliberate combinations of defeat mechanisms. As with stability mechanisms, this produces complementary and reinforcing effects not attainable with a single mechanism.

9-108. The initial array identifies the total number of units needed and identifies possible methods of dealing with the enemy and stability tasks. If the number arrayed is less than the number available, planners place additional units in a pool for use when they develop the initial concept of the operation. (See paragraph 9-106.) If the number of units arrayed exceeds the number available and the difference cannot be compensated for with intangible factors, the staff determines whether the COA is feasible. Ways to make up the shortfall include requesting additional resources, accepting risk in that portion of the area of operations, or executing tasks required for the COA sequentially rather than simultaneously. Commanders should also consider requirements to minimize and relieve civilian suffering. Establishing civil security and providing essential services such as medical care, water, food, and shelter are implied tasks for commanders during any combat operation. (See FM 3-07 for a full discussion on stability tasks.)

4-41. Influence involves altering the opinions; attitudes; and, ultimately, the behaviors of the host-nation population—friendly, neutral, and adversarial—and other actors through information operations, presence, and conduct. Influence applies nonlethal capabilities to complement and reinforce the compelling and controlling effects of stability mechanisms. Influence strives to effect behavioral change through nonlethal means. It is more a result of public perception of legitimacy and trust than a measure of operational success. It reflects the ability of military forces to operate successfully among the population of a host nation, interacting with the population while consistently adhering to the moral principles of the Army Ethic to accomplish the mission. Here, consistency of actions and messages is vital. Influence requires legitimacy. Military forces earn the trust and confidence of a population through the constructive capabilities inherent in the ethical application of combat power. Positive influence is absolutely necessary to achieve lasting control and compliance. It contributes to success across the lines of effort and engenders support among the population. Once attained, military forces best maintain influence by consistently demonstrating the moral-ethical principles of the Army Ethic by exhibiting respect for, and operating within, the cultural and societal norms of the local population.

2-62. Divisions are the tactical units of execution for a corps. A division’s primary role is as a tactical headquarters commanding brigades in decisive action. A division combines offensive, defensive, and either stability or defense support of civil authorities tasks in an AO assigned by its higher headquarters, normally a corps. It task-organizes its subordinate forces to accomplish its mission. During large-scale combat operations, a division operates as a formation and not only as a headquarters. The corps commander determines the number and types of BCTs necessary for the divisions to accomplish their respective missions. Divisions have operational and administrative responsibilities.

5-37. Commanders at all echelons plan for logistic and medical support to indigenous populations affected by combat operations. The land component, corps, and division headquarters staffs typically work directly with any host-nation authorities located within or responsible for portions of their AOs to identify the minimum-essential support that U.S. forces must provide to meet international accords. Corps and division staffs collaborate with the land component, theater army, and joint task force staff to forecast requirements for each successive phase of operations. As required, the theater army requests additional Army units to manage stability tasks in its AO.