FM 100-5 Operations - Survival Ebooks Military Manuals Survival ...

WWW.SURVIVALEBOOKS.COMOPERATIONSpolicy and requirements, which are the starting pointsfor developing campaign plans. Theater commandersparticipate in national and alliance or coalition discussionsas the theater military experts. They designthe campaign plan so that it relates to both nationalstrategies and operational activities. The campaignplan derives from policy and requirements, sets theater-strategicgoals, and is the basis for operationallevelplanning.The Operational LevelAt the operational level of war, joint and combinedoperational forces within a theater of operations performsubordinate campaigns and major operations andplan, conduct, and sustain to accomplish the strategicobjectives of the unified commander or higher militaryauthority.The operational level is the vital link between national-and theater-strategic aims and the tactical employmentof forces on the battlefield. The focus atthis level is on conducting joint operations—the employmentof military forces to attain theater-strategicobjectives in a theater of war and operational objectivesin the theaters of operations through design, organization,and execution of subordinate campaignsand major operations.Combatant commanders and theater-of-operationscommanders usually plan and execute campaigns.Combatant commanders have strategic intents, concepts,and objectives. Service or subordinate jointcommanders have operational intents, concepts, andobjectives in support of the combatant commanders.The echelon of Army commands varies with the natureof warfare, the strategic objectives, the size andstructure of the theater of war, and the number of forcesinvolved. The intended purpose, not the level of command,determines whether an Army unit functions atthe operational level. Armies normally design themajor ground operations of a subordinate campaign,while corps and divisions fight tactical battles and engagements.A corps commander might also commanda joint force land component or a JTF. As a JTF commander,he might plan and execute a campaign thatwould achieve the theater-strategic objectives of theCINC’s theater campaign.Operational art is the skillful employment of militaryforces to attain strategic and/or operational objectiveswithin a theater through the design, organization,integration, and conduct of theater strategies, cam-paigns, major operations, and battles. Operational arttranslates theater strategy and design into operationaldesign which links and integrates the tactical battlesand engagements that, when fought and won, achievethe strategic aim. Tactical battles and engagementsare fought and won to achieve operational results. Nospecific level of command is solely concerned withoperational art. In its simplest expression, operationalart determines when, where, and for what purposemajor forces will fight. It governs the deployment ofthose forces, their commitments to or withdrawal frombattle, and the sequencing of successive battles andmajor operations to attain major objectives.Operational art seeks to ensure that commandersuse soldiers, materiel, and time effectively to achievestrategic aims through campaign design. Such a designprovides a framework to help the theater and operationalcommanders order their thoughts. Operationalart helps commanders understand the conditionsfor victory before seeking battle, thus avoiding unnecessarybattles. Without operational art, war wouldbe a set of disconnected engagements, with relativeattrition the only measure of success or failure.Operational art requires broad vision, the abilityto anticipate, a careful understanding of the relationshipof means to ends, an understanding of the inherentrisks that are under them, and effective joint andcombined cooperation. It challenges the commanderto answer three questions:- What military conditions will achieve thestrategic objectives in the theater of war or theaterof operations?- What sequence of actions is most likely toproduce these conditions?- How should the commander apply militaryresources within established limitations toaccomplish that sequence of actions?These are important questions. They require thetheater and operational commanders to consider theends they must achieve, the ways to achieve those ends,and how to use the means available. The commandertempers his answers by the specified and implied restrictionsand by actions he is specifically directed todo. These are sometimes called restraints and constraints.By answering these questions, he6-2