When military leaders plan to execute any mission, they always have to conduct proper planning to accomplish the objectives of the mission. It is for this reason that two important concepts are often used in the military environment; centers of gravity and decisive points. Firstly, centers of gravity refer to the enemy’s key assets that must be attacked to gain victory (Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2017). Most commonly, an enemy’s center of gravity could be the military, capital, and allies. An enemy’s military is often the most prominent center of gravity to be targeted. For example, to disrupt ISIS activities in the Middle East, the United States forces have to always target the ISIS combatants or fighting units. Secondly, the capital in this case refers to centers of power or where the enemy operates. For example, the Allied Forces had to target Berlin during the Second World War because the city was the administrative center of Germany. Lastly, the enemy’s allies could also be more powerful. Therefore, instead of just targeting the enemy, military leaders should also always plan to engage the enemy’s allies if necessary. An example was during the Second World War when Germany had to engage France, Russia, and the United Kingdom.
Although the main aim of militaries is to attack an enemy’s center of gravity, sometimes it may be difficult to directly do so. Therefore, to penetrate, the military may use certain formations or take advantage of some aspects to gain victory, and these points of advantage are referred to as decisive points (Joint Chiefs of Staff, 2017). Most of the decisive points are often geographic advantages. For example, a military could use its sea advantage to block an enemy’s source of supplies. In that case, the enemy may lack essential goods such as weapons and food. The enemy’s navigation may also be disrupted and this could be used as an advantage to win the war.
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Reference
Joint Chiefs of Staff. (2017). Joint publication 5-0: Joint planning.
