2-48. All commanders apportion combat power and dedicate assets to protection tasks and systems based on an analysis of the OE, the likelihood of threat action, and the relative value of friendly resources and populations. Based on their assessments, joint force commanders may designate the Army to provide a joint security coordinator to be responsible for designated joint security areas. Although all resources have value, the mission variables of METT-TC make some resources, assets, or locations more essential to successful mission accomplishment from enemy or adversary and friendly perspectives. Commanders rely on the risk management process and other specific assessment methods to facilitate decision making, issue guidance, and allocate resources. Criticality, vulnerability, and recoverability are some of the most significant considerations in determining protection priorities that become the subject of commander guidance and the focus of area security. Area security often focuses on the following activities:

1-87. The religious support mission of the Chaplain Corps is to assist commanders in the responsibility to provide for the free exercise of religion, and to provide religious, moral, and ethical leadership to sustain a ready force of resilient and ethical Soldiers and leaders. Unit ministry teams and chaplain sections, composed of at least one chaplain and one religious affairs specialist, possess three core competencies: nurture the living, care for the wounded, and honor the dead. The religious support mission is executed through two required capabilities—providing support and advising the command. For additional information on religious support, see FM 1-05.

7-140. The corps or division commander can assign a follow and support mission to a subordinate unit within the main body. This allows that subordinate unit to relieve forward security forces from such tasks as observing bypassed enemy forces, handling dislocated civilians, and clearing routes. This prevents main body forward and flank security forces from being diverted from their primary mission.

9-20. During receipt of mission, the commander and staff conduct an initial assessment of time and resources available to plan, prepare, and begin execution of an operation. This initial assessment helps commanders determine—

5-3. Once a mission is assigned, Army commanders and staffs have to understand their mission within the context of the land domain. Large-scale combat operations take place within a broader context that includes the political arena, joint operations, and other Service operations. It is in the political arena and higher level joint headquarters, the strategic level of warfare, that the overall political and military objectives are defined. Once the military objectives are defined, specific instructions are issued to joint task forces operating at the operational level of warfare, which in turn assign tasks to, among others, the land component. Understanding this context is necessary to ensure that large-scale combat operations are part of a coherent and cohesive whole.

counterreconnaissance – A tactical mission task that encompasses all measures taken by a commander to counter enemy reconnaissance and surveillance efforts. Counterreconnaissance is not a distinct mission, but a component of all forms of security operations. (FM 3-90-1) See also tactical mission task.

2-15. Planning helps commanders and staffs understand situations to include discerning the relationship of the operational and mission variable. Effective planning not only helps leaders understand the land domain, but it helps leaders understand how capabilities in the air, maritime, space, and cyberspace domains and the information environment impact operations on land and vice versa.

4-121. The mission variables may require designating a corps reserve. Unity of command of the reserve is critical. On occasion, the corps reserve is the reserve of one or more of the divisions, with specific restrictions imposed by the corps commander on its employment. The positioning of the reserve facilitates its anticipated employment. The corps reserve is usually committed directly under control of the corps headquarters.

2-22. The mission determines which activities to accomplish. These activities determine how commanders organize, tailor, or adapt their individual staffs to accomplish the mission. The mission also determines the size and composition of a staff, including staff augmentation.

2-107. The mission of the chaplain is to perform or provide religious support to the unit by assisting the commander in providing for the free exercise of religion and religious, moral, and ethical leadership. Chaplains execute their distinct religious support mission for Soldiers, members of other military services, family members, and authorized civilians in a variety of geographical locations, operational situations, and circumstances. Chaplains provide religious support and advise commanders on the impact of religion, reflecting the dual roles of religious leaders and religious staff advisors. Chaplains and chaplain assistants are assigned at all battalion and higher echelons. The chaplain prepares a portion of Annex F (Sustainment). (See FM 1-05 for more details.)

3-81. At the conclusion of any DSCA mission, commanders should direct their subordinates to inspect printed and electronically stored information acquired during the operation. There is a 90 day window for disposal of sensitive information related to U.S. citizens not affiliated with the DOD (measured from the time of acquisition). (See DODD 5200.27 for more information.)

2-88. The human terrain team’s mission is to conduct operationally relevant social science research and provide commanders and staffs with an embedded knowledge capability to establish a coherent, analytical, socio-cultural framework for operational planning, preparation, execution, and assessment.

7-8. Mission briefings are information briefings that occur during operations or training. Briefers may be commanders, staffs, or special representatives.

2-60. Depending upon operational and mission variables, the division sustainment brigade can command up to seven battalions. Figure 2-4 on page 2-14 depicts a notional task-organized division sustainment brigades in support of an armored division. It and its subordinate units assigned to a division provides direct support to all assigned and attached units in an operational area as directed by the division commander. The division sustainment brigade provides general support logistics, personnel services, and financial management to non-divisional forces operating in the division AO. A task-organized division sustainment brigade assigned to a division normally includes an organic division sustainment troops battalion and an organic division sustainment support battalion to support tactical-level sustainment operations. The division sustainment brigade coordinates and synchronizes tactical-level sustainment operations to meet current and future operations. The division sustainment brigade is dependent on the division staff for long-range planning capability. The division sustainment brigade and its subordinate units must be able to move and displace at the pace of large-scale combat operations.

backbrief – A briefing by subordinates to the commander to review how subordinates intend to accomplish their mission. (FM 6-0)

2-81. A corps or division commander can task-organize parts of a MEB to a BCT or other brigade for a specific mission, or a MEB may complement or reinforce a BCT with forces under the MEB’s control that are performing selected missions or tasks within the BCT AO. This may include engineers, MP, CBRN, or other units for area protection, CBRN support to a field artillery unit, the CAB, and the supporting sustainment brigade. Although a MEB may frequently attach and detach more units than other support brigades, it must also continually provide integrated and synchronized services like the other support brigades. (See FM 3-81 for additional information on MEB operations.)

3-92. Reconstitution operations are extraordinary actions that commanders plan and implement to restore attrited units’ combat effectiveness commensurate with the mission requirements and available resources. Reconstitution restores combat power to the levels necessary to maintain endurance and continue operations. Reconstitution is not a sustainment operation although sustainment plays an integral part, and all sustainment functions are executed during reconstitution. Human resources, medical, supply, and maintenance personnel work closely with maneuver forces to rebuild combat power.

stay behind operation – An operation in which the commander leaves a unit in position to conduct a specified mission while the remainder of the forces withdraw or retire from an area. (FM 3-90-1)

9-16. As soon as a unit receives a new mission (or when the commander directs), the current operations integration cell alerts the staff of the pending planning requirement. Unit standard operating procedures (SOPs) should identify members of the planning staff who participate in mission analysis. In addition, the current operations integration cell also notifies other military, civilian, and host-nation organizations of pending planning events as required.

12-7. A backbrief is a briefing by subordinates to the commander to review how subordinates intend to accomplish their mission. Normally, subordinates perform backbriefs throughout preparation. These briefs allow commanders to clarify the commander’s intent early in subordinate planning. Commanders use the backbrief to identify any problems in the concept of operations.