The Military Decision Making Process: four words that send shivers up your shell. But MDMP is simply a methodology to understand and solve tactical problems collaboratively. An underlying theme of Part I and Part II of this series is enabling and enforcing collaboration to achieve shared situational understanding. This piece focuses on leveraging shared understanding to solve home station problem sets with the same methodology you will use in combat. MDMP is hard because we rarely use it to frame and solve dilemmas at home station. The friction and fog of war will challenge your ability to execute MDMP. We can make it easier by training ourselves and our teams to solve home station problems collaboratively via this tried and true process. In this article, we will explore three common opportunities to get your battle staff good reps at planning: annual/semi-annual training guidance, collective training events, and the weekly FRAGORD.
Tag Archives: Planning
Building Houses that Stand
A Platoon Leader’s Perspective on Planning
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Nothing breaks a new platoon leader’s heart like hearing the words “change of mission.” I heard them within a couple hours of my first training exercise, rendering days of planning products useless in an instant. The lesson I learned – a painful one we all eventually suffer – exemplifies a common military expression: “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.” While I was slightly discouraged, another question lurked in the recesses of my mind: if a plan is doomed to fail, why create a plan in the first place?
Planning…It’s Your Business Too
An NCO's Role in TLPs
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If your company were to mobilize today, are the squad leaders ready? The future of war may require squads to work independently to exploit fleeting gaps in the enemy’s capabilities. As NCOs in today’s Army, some leaders have grown accustomed to recognizing “NCO business” and “Officer business,” rather than Leader business. Are you prepared, not only to execute, but to plan and execute the mission?