1-45. To direct is implicit in command. Commanders direct action to achieve results and lead forces to mission accomplishment. Commanders make decisions and direct action based on their situational understanding maintained by continuous assessment. Throughout the operations process, commanders direct forces by—

3-13. Planning sustainment support of an operation is vital to mission success. Sustainment commanders and their planning staffs must coordinate and synchronize every stage of the planning process with the operational staff. They must also coordinate, synchronize and integrate the sustainment plan with joint and multinational partners to ensure a continuous linkage with strategic level providers.

3-49. The outcome of the assess function must offer the commander the residual enemy capability relating to relative risk to mission and risk to forces. This information directly informs the commander during the decide function of the next iteration of the targeting process.

2-124. Army operational planning requires the complete definition of the mission, expression of the commander’s intent, completion of the commander and staff estimates, and development of a concept of operations. These form the basis of a plan or order and set the conditions for a successful battle. The initial plan establishes the commander’s intent, the concept of operations, and the initial tasks for subordinate units. It allows the greatest possible operational and tactical freedom for subordinate leaders. It is flexible enough to permit leaders to seize opportunities consistent with the commander’s intent, thus facilitating quick and accurate decision making during combat operations. The plan not only affects the current operation, but it also sets the stage for future operations. (See ADRP 5-0 for doctrine on the operations process.)

9-70. Ideally, the commander holds several informal meetings with key staff members before the mission analysis briefing, including meetings to assist the commander in developing CCIRs, the mission statement, and themes and messages. These meetings enable commanders to issue guidance for activities (such as reconnaissance, surveillance, security, and intelligence operations) and develop their initial commander’s intent and planning guidance.

3-44. All offensive planning addresses the mission variables. During offensive planning, commanders and staffs place special emphasis on—

2-9. The understanding developed with the Army design methodology enables commanders to develop an operational approach that establishes conditions to accomplish the mission. (See figure 2-2 on page 2-4.) The operational approach provides a framework that relates tactical tasks to the desired end state. It provides a unifying purpose and focus to all operations.

4-158. In any mission that has the potential for lethal force, such as a civil disturbance, commanders should designate a reserve whenever possible. The reserve may be small, even two or three Soldiers, but even a small reserve can become a critical asset when a situation deteriorates. In planning for the reserve, the commander should—

2-84. At each echelon, a commander or leader task-organizes available capabilities to accomplish the mission. The purpose of task organization is to maximize different subordinate abilities to generate a combined arms effect consistent with the concept of operations. Commanders and staffs work to ensure the distribution of capabilities to the appropriate components of the force to weight the decisive operation and main effort. Command and support relationships describe the relationships between units within and supporting an echelon. (See ADP 5-0 for a discussion of these relationships.)

9-184. After the decision briefing, the commander selects the COA to best accomplish the mission. If the commander rejects all COAs, the staff starts COA development again. If the commander modifies a proposed COA or gives the staff an entirely different one, the staff war-games the new COA and presents the results to the commander with a recommendation. (See figure 9-14.)

7-176. Once a commander determines the scheme of maneuver, the commander task-organizes the force to give each unit enough combat power to accomplish its mission. Commanders normally organize the attacking force into a security force, a main body, and a reserve, all supported by some type of sustainment organization. Commanders should complete any changes in task-organization in time to allow units to conduct rehearsals with their attached and supporting elements. The best place and time for an attacking force to task-organize is when it is in an assembly area.

9-52. Depending on the situation, the commander and selected staff members meet prior to the mission analysis brief to approve the initial CCIRs and EEFIs. This is especially important if the commander intends to conduct information collection early in the planning process. The approval of the initial CCIRs early during planning assists the staff in developing the initial information collection plan. Approval of an EEFI allows the staff to begin planning and implementing measures to protect friendly force information, such as military deception and operations security.

priority of support – A priority set by the commander to ensure a subordinate unit has support in accordance with its relative importance to accomplishing the mission. (ADP 5-0)

3-19. During preparation, commanders complete task-organizing their force to obtain the right mix of capabilities to accomplish a specific mission. The commander may direct task organization to occur immediately before the OPORD is issued. This task-organizing is done with a WARNORD. Doing this gives units more time to execute the tasks needed to affect the new task organization. Task-organizing early allows affected units to become better integrated and more familiar with all elements involved. This is especially important with inherently time-consuming tasks, such as planning technical network support for the organization.

2-43. The primary consideration for allocating resources is how their use contributes to effective mission accomplishment. Commanders do not determine how to accomplish a mission based on conserving resources or giving all subordinates an equal share; they allocate resources efficiently to ensure effectiveness. The objective—to accomplish the mission—guides every element of operations. A plan that does not accomplish the mission, regardless of how well it conserves resources, is not effective.

4-39. A supporting effort is a designated subordinate unit with a mission that supports the success of the main effort. Commanders resource supporting efforts with the minimum assets necessary to accomplish the mission. Forces often realize success of the main effort through success of supporting efforts.

2-18. When developing their concept of operations, commanders first visualize the decisive operation that directly accomplishes the mission. They then visualize how shaping and sustaining operations support the decisive operation. The decisive operation prioritizes effort and is the focal point around which the plan is developed. When developing associated tasks to subordinate units, commanders ensure subordinates have the capabilities and resources to accomplish their assigned tasks. They do this by task-organizing the force and establishing priorities of support. Commanders consider the following principles of war when task- organizing the force and prioritizing efforts:

7-58. Coordination begins immediately upon receipt of a mission and continues throughout an operation. When time allows, commanders and staffs review subordinate plans, giving additional guidance as needed to ensure a coordinated effort.

9-50. An FFIR is information the commander and staff need to understand the status of friendly force and supporting capabilities. FFIRs identify the information about the mission, troops and support available, and time available for friendly forces that the commander considers most important. In coordination with the staff, the operations officer manages FFIRs for the commander.

3-23. Backbriefs occur after subordinates have made their own plans and allow the commander to ensure subordinates understand intent, mission, and the concept of operations. Commanders may use backbriefs to ensure that units that will employ fires to create effects understand the timing and requirements. They can also use backbriefs to begin synchronization of the effects created by subordinate units with each other and the plan.