3-15. The organizations discussed in this section are used across the range of military operations. The authorities and responsibilities described in the preceding sections on Unity of Effort, Theater Army, and Theater Special Operations Command never change; they are prescribed in public law through United States Code. A commander’s campaign plan relies on the capabilities provided by the entire Department of Defense as well as those capabilities provided by other government agencies to create unity of effort. Army special operations units execute a variety of activities, missions, and tasks following the principles of discreet, precise, and scalable. Army special operations forces execute these principles in over 160 countries (roughly 80% of the countries in the world) on a daily basis. U.S. military and civilian authorities should be familiar with the terms for a number of special operations elements in addition to those described as task forces. Table 3-1, page 3-5, depicts Army special operations command and control echelons used where task forces are required.

2-33. The Army Reserve maintains an operational response command that provides rapid response for chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents in the homeland. In support of DSCA, it also maintains augmentation units, as well as, regional and state emergency preparedness liaison office (ELPO) teams. The operational response command also provides DSCA Training opportunities to reserve units through Civil-Military Project Officers (CMPOs) aligned to separate FEMA regions. Army Reserve units also maintain a DSCA plans officer to coordinate and monitor compliance with USARC-directed training requirements due to the increased emphasis on DSCA training and missions.

4-81. Units conduct defensive operations and designate FPFs for each of their supporting artillery units and mortar platoons. Both direct and indirect-fire weapons can provide FPFs. A direct fire weapon system’s final protective line is a form of FPFs. Commanders can only assign each weapon, firing battery, or platoon a single FPF. An FPF is a priority target for that weapon or unit, and those weapons or units are laid on that target when they are not engaged in other fire missions. When an enemy force initiates its final assault into a defensive position, a defending unit initiates its FPFs.

2-39. SDDC is an operational-level Army force designated by the SECARMY as the ASCC assigned to USTRANSCOM and a major subordinate command under administrative control of USAMC. SDDC exercises administrative control authority and responsibility on behalf of the Commander, USAMC and exercises OPCON over Army forces, as delegated by the Commander, USTRANSCOM. SDDC is the global ocean and inland waterway port manager and surface transportation service provider as part of USTRANSCOM’s Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise. The Joint Deployment and Distribution Enterprise is a collaborative network of partner organizations, to include DOD components, sharing common deployment and distribution-related goals, interests, missions, and business processes, which comprise end-to-end deployment and distribution in support of CCDRs.

3-48. Rangers are rapidly deployable airborne light infantry organized and trained to conduct highly complex joint direct action operations in coordination with or in support of other special operations units of all Services (JP 3-05). The regiment can execute direct action operations in support of a combatant commander and can operate as conventional light infantry when properly augmented with other elements of combined arms. Its specially organized, trained, and equipped Soldiers provide a capability to deploy a credible military force quickly to any region of the world. It performs specific missions with other special operations units and often forms habitual relationships with these units. Its missions differ from conventional infantry forces’ missions in the degree of risk and the requirement for precise, discriminate use of force. It uses specialized equipment, operational techniques, and several modes of infiltration and employment.

2-75. The CAB provides a corps or division commander with a maneuver advantage that can overcome the constraints of limiting terrain and extended distances. Attack, reconnaissance, utility, and cargo aircraft may maneuver independently under corps or division control in the echelon deep area or within an assigned AO. Alternatively the CAB’s attack, reconnaissance, utility, and cargo assets may be under OPCON, TACON, general support, or direct support to another brigade as situationally appropriate. Furthermore, a CAB may receive OPCON of ground maneuver forces to conduct security or reconnaissance of the corps’ or division’s flanks or front or to accomplish other economy of force missions. The use of aviation assets requires additional detailed planning and synchronization using specific airspace control processes to maximize results. (FM 3-04 describes the framework and imperatives of air-ground operations.)

4-145. Indirect support by federal military forces to counterdrug agencies requires approval by the Secretary of Defense or a designated representative. Three standing joint task force headquarters provide indirect support to domestic civilian law enforcement agencies. Joint Task Force-North supports counterdrug efforts within the USNORTHCOM AOR. Joint Task Force-West does the same in the USPACOM AOR. The Joint Interagency Task Force South operates in the United States Southern Command AOR. The missions vary widely and may include ground reconnaissance, detection and monitoring, communications support, aerial reconnaissance, marijuana eradication, linguist support, air and ground transportation, intelligence analysis, tunnel detection, engineering support, and maintenance support.

10-21. Outside Army boundaries, strategic leaders have roles as integrator, alliance builder, negotiator, and arbitrator. Strategic leaders are skilled at reaching consensus and building coalitions. They may apply these skills to tasks—such as designing combatant commands, joint task forces, and policy working-groups—or determine the direction of a major command or the Army as an institution. Strategic leaders routinely bring designated people together for missions lasting from a few months to years. Using peer leadership rather than strict positional authority, strategic leaders carefully monitor progress toward a visualized end state. They focus on the health of the relationships necessary to achieve the end state. Interpersonal contact sets the tone for professional relations: strategic leaders must be tactful.

3-97. The Army segment of the distribution system is referred to as theater distribution. Theater distribution is the flow of personnel, equipment, and materiel within theater to meet the GCC’s missions (JP 4-09). The theater segment extends from the ports of debarkation or source of supply (in theater) to the points of need. Distribution management synchronizes and optimizes transportation, its networks, and materiel management with the warfighting functions to move personnel and materiel from origins to the point of need in accordance with the supported commander's priorities. Distribution management includes the management of transportation and movement control, warehousing, inventory control, order administration, site and location analysis, packaging, data processing, accountability for equipment (materiel management), people, and communications. See ATP 4-0.1, Army Theater Distribution, for additional information on distribution and distribution management.

2-10. The five types of information in Army doctrine represent a set of guidelines or tools that can be combined in an almost infinite set of combinations to accomplish missions. Using the same approach or the same set of tools consistently often makes operations predictable, providing an enemy with valuable insights into methods to defeat a particular approach. The application of doctrine requires creative thinking. Doctrine is much more about knowing how to think about the conduct of operations than it is about what to think. Doctrine is a starting point for determining how to accomplish missions and how to adjust and react to changing circumstances. Applied blindly, it becomes a straightjacket. Applied with judgment, it allows commanders and staffs to take advantage of the collected wisdom of the profession.

4-3. Duty status determines whether Army National Guard forces conduct National Guard civil support, DSCA, or both. National Guard forces in state active duty status conduct National Guard civil support missions; they do not conduct DSCA missions in state active duty status. According to DODD 3025.18, DSCA missions may include operations of National Guard forces in Title 32, USC status but not in state active duty status. National Guard forces in either state active duty or Title 32, USC status remain in state service, under the command of their governor. When Army National Guard units are federalized (placed in federal service, under Title 10, USC) they are no longer considered state forces. As federal military forces, they conduct DSCA missions only.

4-40. Phase 0 is continuous situational awareness and preparedness. Key tasks during this phase are: planning, preparedness for assigned/allocated forces, training, coordination with Federal and State partners, and public affairs outreach. The shape phase includes missions, tasks, and actions that deter adversaries and assure friends, as well as establish conditions for possible DSCA contingencies. Shape activities are continuous. The combatant commander uses them to improve mutual trust and working relationships among the various organizations potentially providing support to DSCA operations. The theater army integrates landpower within theater engagement plans and cooperation with other civilian activities. Integrating landpower requires the theater army to train and prepare assigned forces for operations as well as to coordinate training and readiness requirements with the Service force providers. Integrating landpower also includes extending the signal and network and establishing the network that supports operations by the joint force land component. Notably, these continuous working relationships persist throughout the AOR even as the primary effort within the geographic combatant command shifts during phase zero to the conduct of a campaign in a portion of the AOR.

3-25. Terrain management includes allocating terrain by establishing AOs, designating assembly areas, and specifying locations for units. Terrain management is an important activity during preparation as units reposition and stage prior to execution. Commanders assigned an AO manage terrain within their boundaries. Through terrain management, commanders identify and locate units in the area. The operations officer, with support from others in the staff, can then de-conflict operations, control movements, and deter fratricide as units get in position to execute planned missions. Commanders also consider unified action partners located in their AO and coordinate with them for the use of terrain.

1-37. Security cooperation is defined as 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). The participation of Army special operations forces in security cooperation missions fosters relationships with host-nation forces and key leaders through sustained contact. Security cooperation and partner activities are key elements of global and combatant commander campaigns.

4-22. Combat power is the total means of destructive, constructive, and information capabilities that a military unit or formation can apply at a given time (ADP 3-0). Combat power has eight elements: leadership, information, command and control, movement and maneuver, intelligence, fires, sustainment, and protection. The last six elements are the warfighting functions. The purpose of combat power is to accomplish missions. It also helps commanders conceptualize capabilities to execute combined arms operations.

2-31. For large-scale combat operations or protracted joint operations, the theater army may be reinforced by an array of Army capabilities deployed from the United States and supporting theater armies. Other Army functional or multifunctional headquarters and units may be made available to the theater army based on requirements of the AOR, including forward stationing, base operations, security force assistance missions, theater security cooperation activities, or ongoing military operations. These Army functional or multifunctional units may have either a command or a support relationship with the theater army. In some cases, the Department of the Army tasks certain functional or multifunctional battalions to support more than one theater army. Figure 2-2 provides an example of a theater army task-organized for large-scale combat operations.

6-1. U.S. Army Special Operations Command is assigned one sustainment brigade, the 528th Sustainment Brigade (Special Operations) (Airborne), that is deployable in support of Army special operations force led task forces. The 528th provides the capability to set the operational-level sustainment conditions to enable special operations. It accomplishes this by coordinating requirements with the theater Army and theater special operations command and ensuring the theater sustainment structure is responsive to those requirements. The nature of special operations and the environments in which they are conducted requires the 528th commanders, staffs, and Soldiers to be agile, adaptive, and innovative stewards of the Army profession. They should creatively and competently support special operations and accomplish their missions in the right way: ethically, effectively, and efficiently. This way, the 528th allows continuous sustainment operations for any given special operations to persevere and succeed.

2-2. +The ability of Army forces to shape operational environments (OEs), prevent conflict, defeat enemy forces in large-scale ground combat, and consolidate gains relates to the quantity of combat power they can continuously generate and apply. Combat power includes all capabilities provided by unified action partners that are integrated, synchronized, and converged with the commander’s objectives to achieve unity of effort in sustained operations. The purpose of combat power is to accomplish missions. (See paragraphs 2-104 through 2-266 for a discussion of Army capabilities).

4-45. When civil authorities no longer need military support for the purposes of saving lives, alleviating suffering, and protecting property, military forces prepare to redeploy. Army leaders plan for the communities they support to return to self-sufficiency. When directed by a federal coordinating officer or state coordinating officer, Army forces complete their missions and turn over responsibility for further efforts to civilian agencies and commercial enterprises. (The governor of the affected state appoints a coordinating officer to coordinate state response efforts with the federal government response.) Commanders coordinate with appropriate partners (including joint field offices, emergency operations centers, incident commands, and defense coordinating elements) to avoid gaps in necessary support. State authorities should manage as much of the long term recovery as possible.

2-21. Common-user logistics consists of materiel, services, and/or support shared with or provided by two or more military Services, DOD agencies, non-DOD agencies, and multinational partners. It can be restricted by type of supply and/or service and to specific unit(s) times, missions, and/or geographic areas. Service component commands, DOD Agencies (such as DLA), and Army organizations (such as USAMC and the Office of the Surgeon General), provide common logistics and medical support to other service components, multinational partners, and other organizations authorized to receive support.