course of action becomes infeasible, wargamers must stop, reject it, and begin the next course of action. * avoid drawing premature conclusions and gathering facts to support such …
a complete course of action consists of: what: type of action ; when: time the action begins ; where: location of sector or zone ; how: method of employment (tactics) why: commander's …
• Develop and analyze course(s) of action (COA). • Identify resources. Planning concepts for developing a course of action: • Scenario based analyzes impact of a scenario. • Functional …
The definition of the term "Course of Action" varies significantly from person to person and application to application, as can be seen in the authoritative definition: course of action — 1. …
To develop a complete course of action, the staff must identify what, when, where, how, and why the unit will execute. A technique to quickly develop complete courses of action is for the XO to assemble the staff and follow the five-step method. The staff develops the courses of action together. While the S-3 develops the scheme of maneuver, the remainder of the staff integrates its assets within its functional area of responsibility.
Staff: Develop courses of action that identify what, when, where, how, and why the unit will execute.
DISCUSSION: Wargaming is the most valuable step within the course-of-action analysis. Observations from the CTCs indicate that few staffs understand how to war-game effectively, and that many staff officers are not involved in the procedure. By wargaming , the staff takes a course of action and begins to develop a detailed plan. Additionally, it can better synchronize the course of action when the entire staff is involved in wargaming . Information recorded during the warga me provides the information for the development of paragraph three (execution) of the operations order, the execution or synchronization matrices, and the decision support template. Because of the importance of its results, and the time it requires, more time is allocated than for any other step. Wargaming results in the identification of tasks, combat power requirements, critical events and priority efforts, task organization and command and support relationships, decision points and possible fratricide locations.
The scheme of maneuver is a narrative description of how the forces arrayed will accomplish the commander's intent. Ensure the scheme of maneuver addresses the elements of the battlefield framework (deep operations, covering force/security force, close operations, rear operations, and reserve).
STEP 1 Wargaming begins by gathering the tools to be used by the staff. The first tool required is a planning map or sketch of the area of operations. An enlarged map or sketch works best because the entire staff can see the course of action. Post the situation template for the selected enemy course of action and friendly unit dispositions on overlays, then cover the map with acetate. Have the S-3 sketch the course of action on the acetate and revise the sketch during wargaming.
Course-of-action development is the foundation of the plan. Eliminating or inadequately conducting this step produces inferior estimates which impact on the remainder of the MDMP in the following ways. The commander, recognizing courses of action that do not adhere to his planning guidance or are not feasible, responds by having the staff do the work again, which wastes time. Or, in the absence of adequate planning time, the commander develops a course of action himself.
After courses of action are war-gamed, the staff determines which one to recommend to the commander. This requires the staff to continue to analyze and compare each course of action. A quick and effective method to do this is to use a decision matrix. The staff develops criteria for comparison using commanders' guidance, critical events, and other significant factors pertaining to the mission. The staff uses criteria to determine advantages and disadvantages of each course of action. It is the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages that helps the staff determine the course of action with the highest probability of success.
course of action example army provides a comprehensive and comprehensive pathway for students to see progress after the end of each module.
Decisive Action Decisive action is the "continuous, simultaneous combination of offensive, defensive, and stabil-ity or defense support of civil authorities tasks."2 When conducting operations outside of the United States and its territories, the Army simultaneously combines three elements—offense, defense, and stability.
Course of Action Simulation Analysis (CASA) task wa s created to research metrics identification, data representation and scoring approaches. This paper introduces concepts behind CASA, chronicles task results to date, and finishes with a discussion of the scoring methodologies and capabilities developed during the CASA prototyping effort.
As JTF-P builds combat power, forces will position and posture to conduct decisive action operations, in the event deterrence fails. Upon restoring Atropian sovereignty, JTF-P forces will support the GoRA's National Development Strategy (NDS), 2014-2020, especially, security force assistance and the effort to neutralize internal irregular ...
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The military planning process depends upon analysis to anticipate and respond in real-time to a dynamically changing battlespace with counteractions. Complex technical challenges exist in automating these processes to derive hypotheses about future alternatives for mission scenarios. The military conducts combat operations in the presence of uncertainty and the alternatives that might emerge. It is virtually impossible to identify or predict the specific details of what might transpire. Current generation wargaming technologies typically execute a prescripted sequence of events for an adversary, independent of the opposing force actions. A significant research challenge for wargaming is predicting and assessing how friendly actions result in adversary behavioral outcomes, and how those behavioral outcomes impact the adversary commander’s decisions and future actions. The focus of this research was to develop technologies to assist decision makers in assessing friendly COAs against an operational-level adversarial environment. Utilizing high-performance computing (HPC) technology, it is possible to dynamically execute multiple simulations concurrently to evaluate COAs for critical elements related to execution and timing as well as overall effectiveness against a range of adversarial or enemy COAs (eCOA) [1].
Attrition-based scoring represents one approach to answering the need to identify a common set of scoring metrics that allow disparate COAs to be directly compared. The attrition-based scoring approach attempts to consider the kinetic effects of missions, both positive and negative. In researching this approach, several templates were constructed to account for how the results of kinetic actions affected numerous facets of the battle space, including but not limited to, adversary forces; civilian populations; economics; and political, religious, and cultural infrastructures. What quickly became obvious was that each examined application of kinetic force had numerous exceptions. When the templates were combined and revised to attempt to account for all variations, they became very large and were generally sparsely populated and unwieldy. Their sparse nature forced abstraction to allow for direct comparison, with each abstraction specific to the COAs under examination. Additionally, attempting to allow for EBO considerations expanded both template size and complexity. Following numerous failed attempts to find a means to use this scoring approach, a more fundamentally abstract approach was researched.
The main emphasis in the task and effect-based scoring model is to account for the relative importance of the individual tasks on achieving the overall desired effects. The viewpoint here is that although a given COA may inflict dramatically more casualties than are sustained, it could still prove to be a poor COA. For example, suppose the purpose of a COA is to destroy the enemy’s ability to utilize weapons of mass destruction (WMD). It achieves 25% success on all missions without losing a single asset, but the COA would not be considered a success. The enemy will still be able to utilize WMD even though they sustained more damage than they inflicted.
This can be done by shifting the triggers or decision points used to determine when to echelon forces forward in support of the maneuver plan. Those triggers or decision points may be tied to phase lines, objectives, or specific actions accomplished by the maneuver force.
In many operations, sustainment forces must echelon forward to keep up with their maneuver customers and help them maintain operational reach and endurance. That being said, yet another way sustainment planners can develop different COAs is to look at how they are echeloning sustainment forces forward to support their maneuver customers.
The most common method sustainment planners use to develop sustainment COAs is the MDMP. The MDMP is one of the Army's three planning methodologies. According to Army Doctrine Publication 5-0, The Operations Process, the MDMP is "an iterative planning methodology to understand the situation and mission, develop a COA, and produce an operation plan or order."
A complete COA incorporates the key elements of decisive, shaping, and sustaining operations and accounts for tasks to be performed and conditions achieved in offense, defense, stability, or defense support to civil authorities. Of course, there are times when developing multiple COAs simply is not possible.
The criteria of a COA includes the following: • Feasibility. A feasible COA can accomplish the mission within the given time, space, and resource limitations. • Acceptability. An acceptable COA must have the right balance among cost, risk, and the potential advantaged gained. • Suitability.
In addition, to save time, the commander may also limit the staff to a certain number of COAs or specify which COAs should not be explored. Nevertheless, these are exceptions to the rule. In the best-case scenario, sustainment planners would have ample time and develop two or more COAs that are feasible, acceptable, suitable, distinguishable, and complete.
Effective writing is essential for successful communication . As platoon commanders or staff officers, written communication must be clear, concise, thorough and correct. This lesson will discuss several different writing responsibilities you will have as a Marine officer and familiarize you with types of military correspondence.
The Marine Corps order is the only written communication for establishing or changing Marine Corps policy. An order is a directive of continuing authority or information and/or a permanent reference. It generally requires continuous action. It is directed at overall functions and remains in effect for nine years unless canceled or otherwise altered. An order is distinguished in the filing system by the assignment of a consecutive point number that follows the SSIC. The two types of orders are:
Written communication is an effective way to disseminate information and often vital to ensure mission accomplishment. The intent of this lesson is to familiarize you with military correspondence, especially the importance of proper correspondence format, and provide examples of various types of correspondence.