Mission Command Philosophy
The mission command philosophy involves the exercise of the authority and the direction through which the commander applies orders to establish discipline within the commander’s intent so as to empower agile leadership. The philosophy involves establishing various principles such as building a cohesive team based on the trust, establishing a shared understanding and using the mission orders. It further goes to establish the disciplined initiatives while at the same time elaborating on the intent of the commander.
The shared confidence among all the commanders is essential in providing a collaborating partnership while also taking into account the time the tasks need to take. The team building among the commander and the staff is based on the mutual trust which requires shared efforts to overcome the differences. An effective command is built upon the cohesive teams in a surrounding of mutual trust and unity.
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Mission command: Understand
Mission command understands the initial step in the mission command, and it involves the decisive operations for both the CDR and the staff members. The mission command-understand provides an understanding and scope on which the problems framework is developed by making use of the operations variables to analyze the operational environment. Upon analysis and synthesis of the materials from the environment, the commander then moves to the task which is to visualize the desired state of these materials.
Understanding is crucial to the commander in controlling his ability to the context of the situation. It further helps in the decision-making process during the planning and execution. It is fundamental to the role of the commander as well as the ability to establish the context of the situation. For example, when the commander comes up with decisive operations during the war in Iraq, it helps in gaining an understanding of the whole process and improves his ability to understand the context of the situation.
Mission Command: Visualize
Mission command-visualize is that part of the mission command that focuses on the analysis and synthesis of the operational environment by making use of the operational variables as well as the critical factors that are involved in the problem statement of the commander. This helps the commander to develop a situational comprehension of the context and determine the desired state and the approach that will be used in the realization of the set desired. It further incorporates a mental process of developing a situational understanding and determination of the desired state as well as identification of the operational approach that will be utilized to realize an end state.
While developing visualization, the commanders must first understand the conditions of the current situations as well as envision the desired future state and conditions that are represented by the operations. For example, the commander can visualize by identifying the mission, the enemy, and their intent so that they gain an understanding of the desired end state. An example of the mission command-visualize is on the ability of the army and its corpse to make quick adjustments in combination with the low-level initiative of the military forces to exploit any opportunities in identifying the mission, the enemy and their intent during the war between Iraq and Afghanistan.
Mission Command: Describe
This is the process where the commander upon visualizing the operations goes ahead to describe it to the other staffs members and the subordinates so that there is the facilitation of the shared understanding and purpose. The aim is to ensure that the subordinates clearly understand their visualization proper to enable the initiation of the exact course of action. The visualization is then explained and described by the commanders in the doctrinal terms while at the same time making clarifications as well as the required circumstances. The description takes place in the forms of intent, planning guidance, the critical information required and essential elements of the friendly information.
The commander’s intent describes the specific expression of the operations as well as the desired end state of the military. Planning guidance, on the other hand, describes what the commander must convey, including the description of the operational approach. An example of the commander’s intent is to provide a safe and secure environment in AO TIGER that allows the nations and other organizations to reestablish civil control. Under the mission command-describe, the commander identifies the time, space, resources, purpose and the action that will be taken and then make it be understood by the junior staff.
The other deliverable of the mission command description is the planning guidance. Here, the commander must state clearly when, where and how he intends to implement the decisive operations in the mission accomplishment. It must further contain what the priorities are for the WFFs. The critical information requirements demand that the commander and other staff gain an understanding of the status of the friendly force as well as the supporting capabilities.
Mission Command: Lead, Direct and Assess
The mission command leadership is defined in the ADRP 6-22 of the military leadership as the process of influencing people by giving them a direction, purpose as well as motivation to lead in the accomplishment of the intended mission. The mechanisms used by the leadership to influence include persuasion, coercion, and operation. The leaders must understand well the organization and its environment as well as make a clear visual analysis of the whole operation processes. The commander must provide proper leadership to the subordinates on what is required of them as they work together towards accomplishing the mission of the team. Leading is the propulsion system that the military organization relies upon for success in their mission. Motivation and focus for the subordinates are essential in the realization of the goals of the organization, and it remains the role of the leader to motivate.
Mission command assesses the process of monitoring and analysis of the whole progress of the military operations and execution. The commander must assess the operations before, during and after the execution of the exercise. This is essential in improving the chances of the mission accomplishment. Through assessment, the commander can be able to synchronize and understand the whole process of the military operations and the progress made in the process. Continuous assessment of the operations is required to identify any opportunities and the weaknesses of the enemy while at the same time mitigate any threat from the enemy. For example, the commander does an assessment during the war on the possible threat from the enemy while at the same time identifying if there is an opportunity. Direct on the other hand deals with the ability of the leader to provide direction for the rest of the subordinate members on the way to go about their operations. The commander must provide direction for the military members on how best to approach a military operation while at the same time giving them motivation.
Decisive Actions: Offense, Defense, Stability and DSCA
The purpose of the offense is to dislocate and destroy the enemy and seize their key terrain. It also aims at taking away the resources of the enemy so that they are unable to continue fighting. It further goals are to create a safe environment for the stability and develop intelligence. The major tasks involved in the offense are the movement to contact the enemy, making attacks and exploitation. An example of decisive action-offense is when the Joint Force Land Component with multiple subordinate divisions making a multi-division attacks against an enemy and exploiting them during the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Defense, on the other hand, is an operation that involves deterring and defeating the enemy, realizing the economy of the forces and retaining the key terrain away from the enemy. At the same time, it aims at developing the intelligence and protecting the assets and the population from any attack by the enemy. The major tasks involved are to provide defense, retrograde and give a mobile defense. An example of defense is when the commander and the subordinates occupied the positions before the attack and prepare themselves for a counteroffensive which allowed them to regain the initiative. In the Iraq and Afghanistan war, the military denied the opponent forces access to specific terrain. Similarly, stability entails the need to provide a secure environment while at the same time meeting the needs of the population. It further aims at refining intelligence, establishing partner capacity and gaining support from the government of the host nation. The tasks involved are to establish civil security, create civil control and do secure operations. An example of stability was when the military conducted operations outside the nation in coordination with other instruments of power to establish a secure environment provide necessary government services and offer humanitarian relief during the Iraq and Afghanistan war. The DSCA, on the other hand, involves all the activities under the defensive actions in areas of defense, stability, and offense. It majorly provides the support for the domestic disaster and domestic civilian law enforcement agencies. The purpose is to save lives, protection of the property and shaping the environment for intergovernmental success.
