FM 3-34.22 - Army Electronic Publications & Forms - U.S. Army

Chapter 1
Engineer Support to the Brigade Combat Team
My engineers can do anything. There just aren’t enough of them.
—Major General Raymond Odierno
Commander, 4th Infantry Division, Operation Iraqi Freedom
Engineers supporting maneuver forces today face unique challenges, not only with
the unpredictability of the OE they operate, but also in adapting to the organizational
restructuring of the Army as it continues to transform to a modular force. Within the
BCT, this transformation has resulted in a streamlined, organic engineer company and
a reliance on task-organized EAB engineer augmentation. This chapter discusses the
need for engineer support within the BCT, the mechanism for providing responsive
and mission-tailored engineer capabilities, and the integration of the engineer
functions (combat, general, and geospatial engineering) through the warfighting
functions to generate combat power in combined arms operations.
REQUIREMENTS
1-1. The Army operational concept is full spectrum operations. Full spectrum operations are the
purposeful, continuous, and simultaneous combinations of offense, defense, and stability or civil support to
dominate the military situation at operational and tactical levels. In full spectrum operations, Army forces
adapt to the requirements of the OE and conduct operations within it using synchronized action, joint
interdependent capabilities, and mission command. They defeat adversaries on land using offensive and
defensive operations and operate with the population and civil authorities in the AO using stability or civil
support operations. Integrated engineer support is not only critical in conducting combined arms in full
spectrum operations, but it also adds to the combined arms commander’s understanding of OE
requirements.
OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT
1-2. Understanding the OE is essential to successful operations. Today’s OE is more unpredictable than
those of the past, witnessing new threat and a complex and dynamic array of other influences. As with
other leaders, Army engineers are challenged to understand the OE they face and apply their knowledge
and capabilities to support the force. They must be prepared to face future adversaries that are adaptive and
have a wide array of asymmetric capabilities that allow them to successfully fight a more technologically
superior force. In the OE, engineers have difficulty predicting an enemy course of action (COA) based on
doctrinal templates. Engineers must be able to describe an enemy force in terms of function (fixing,
assaulting, exploiting, shielding) of subelements and not in terms of where it might be found on a
contiguous battlefield (2d echelon, main defensive belt). Engineers have to develop methods to discern and
identify threat engineer patterns of behavior. Engineers can also anticipate dealing with increased explosive
hazards (EHs) (mines, booby traps, IEDs, unexploded ordnance [UXO]) throughout the contiguous and
noncontiguous AO.
1-3. Warfighting commanders rely on engineers as one of the specialists available to add breadth and
depth to the overall understanding of the OE. The engineer view shares a common general understanding
of the OE, while adding a degree of focus on those aspects within the purview of an engineering
background. Guided by a common general understanding, the engineer view seeks to identify potential
challenges and opportunities associated with OE variables. The engineer view is not constrained to the
considerations that may result in engineer functional missions, and subsequent engineer planning is not
11 February 2009 FM 3-34.22 1-1