The hard-fought lessons we learn in combat can’t die with us. They need to be passed on to help others succeed. Those lessons aren’t just in fighting. One of the most sacred responsibilities of a leader is to create more leaders. In Part I of this series we reviewed lessons in fighting. You can find those lessons HERE. In Part II, we will discuss the fight before the fight: planning.
‘In preparing for battle, I have always found that plans are useless but planning is indispensable.’ -General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Keep Planning Routine
Teams should make a habit of planning together. This helps build a common operating picture and accelerates the ability to build hasty plans when needed. Planning is at its best when units use a standardized product, revised as needed, to account for all contingencies. Good planning products help units stick to a checklist and build predictability. Really good units have been using the same PowerPoint planning products for well over a decade, but everyone reading them knows exactly where to look for key pieces of information and the units can plan in a timely fashion. Replicate this idea with the tools available, whether it be an OPORD format in a rucksack or digital tools available at higher levels. The Army’s OPORD format hasn’t changed in years for a reason.
It’s also valuable to think of your “Team of Teams.” Working subordinate units and enablers into planning early will help them conduct follow-on TLPs faster and strengthen the overall plan by getting a different perspective. They will bring valuable inputs to planning efforts based on varied knowledge, experience, and positions on the battlefield.
Understand the Bigger Picture
Knowing the challenges higher headquarters is trying to solve will help you understand what enemy you can expect to face, what support you’re likely to get, and what triggers might cause your mission to change. Frequently units will expect to get support based on what they see as a need, but don’t grasp that higher headquarters is balancing the needs of multiple units. This can lead to poor planning assumptions and frustration about not being supported. Both of these can be dangerous. Units have to understand where they fit into the larger operational picture. Additionally, by understanding higher headquarters’ problems and the tools on hand to solve them, you might be able to make suggestions about improving the utilization of various assets and ultimately get what you need to mitigate risk.
Build Mutually Supporting Elements
The role of QRF is often performed by the unit that is closest, not the originally designated force stationed near the headquarters. If a unit is stretched thin, what are the adjacent units that can get to them? They are the most likely to become a QRF. Know how to get hold of them, what their capabilities are, how long they will take to get to you, and how they will move. Think through link up procedures and triggers for those elements to move.
Build The Right Elements, into Every Element
For dismounted elements, every group more than 100m away from another group needs to have a medic, a machine gun, a leader, and a communications or fires expert. These bare essentials can help units address immediate problems and gain time before support arrives. No one should get isolated on the battlefield and 100m is usually the farthest point (if not closer) where that starts to happen. It’s also worth noting that studies have shown that one of the biggest fears of Soldiers is becoming isolated on the battlefield
Plan for How to Get Out of a Worst-Case Scenario
Know how to live to fight another day. Check your communications with every unit, external and internal, whom you might need to contact during a mission. Carry just a little more food and ammo than you think you need to. And have a plan to consolidate, reorganize, and launch out again.
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Conducting thorough planning won’t guarantee that things won’t go wrong. But it will greatly improve your chances of success and mitigate the risk of catastrophic failure.
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