Mission Analysis (2024)

Instructor Notes Lesson Script

1. INTRODUCTION:

SLIDE 1 - TITLE SLIDE a. Lesson Tie-in: To this point you have been trained in Army Operations, Doctrine, Maneuver Units and Combat Support Assets. This next block of instruction focuses on providing the staff the key information needed to perform their individual estimates, which will result in the preparation of a decision brief for the commander. This process is called the Command Estimate or the Tactical Decision Making Process. Today, we will discuss the first step of the Command Estimate Process: Mission Analysis.

SLIDE 2 - OBJECTIVES b. Objective: As a result of this instruction, in a classroom environment, the student will: prepare a brigade restated mission. With references, each student must achieve 75% on a written objective examination.

c. Safety: There are no safety considerations for this block.

d. Purpose: The result of this instructional event will provide you the necessary skills to analyze a higher OPORD and arrive at your unit's mission statement. Tactical Intelligence Officers need to know how this process works as they may be called upon to assist in the mission analysis process; part of this process is called intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB). The S2 must understand the unit's mission in order to focus his intelligence collection and dissemination effort.

e. Procedure: This class is divided into a two hour block of instruction teaching the fundamentals of Mission Analysis, followed by a 4 hour PE during which the student will analyze a division operations order (OPORD) and develop a brigade restated mission.

SLIDE 3 - COMMAND ESTIMATE 2. DEVELOPMENT: Before we get into Mission Analysis, let's look at the Command Estimate Process. It is a continuous process that allows the combat commander to make decisions based on information provided by his staff and missions received from higher headquarters. Understanding the entire process will provide you with the big picture and allow you to see how decisions are arrived at and how orders are developed. There are four steps in the Command Estimate Process:

1) Mission Analysis 2) Course of Action (COA) Development 3) Course of Action Analysis and Comparison 4)Decision and Execution

In Mission Analysis, the commander and staff receive the mission brief and OPORD/OPLAN/FRAGO from higher. The commander and staff then analyze higher's order to deduce the mission of our unit. At the end of Mission Analysis, the staff briefs the commander and each other on the current situation, to include: enemy, weather, terrain, and status of own forces. The commander approves the restated mission in order to focus further planning. The restated mission becomes the mission for our unit. The commander also gives planning guidance to the staff so that they may prepare for the next step (COA Development).

• In Course of Action Development, the S3 develops possible friendly courses of action that could be used to fight the battle. The remainder of the staff and the S2 continue developing information in their own respective areas. The S2 will develop all possible enemy courses of action.
• In Course of Action Analysis and Comparison, the staff gathers to wargame the S3's friendly courses of action against the enemy courses of action.
• In Decision and Execution, the staff briefs the commander on the results of their analysis in a decision briefing format. The commander, in giving his decision, selects the best course of action. The staff then develops the selected course of action into an order (OPORD/OPLAN/FRAGO).

The process is dynamic and variable. It fits all situations. It must and is always gone through by the commander and staff. Expect to become more clear on how the pieces fit together in Command Estimate II, III and at BASIX.

SLIDE 4 - XO/STAFF DUTIES The Executive Officer (XO) supervises adherence to time within the Brigade and Battalion. He is the coordinator for most staff actions. The XO should provide times when important planning functions and meetings take place. He should provide, as soon as the mission is received, the time of:

• Mission Analysis Brief
• Wargaming (COA's)
  
  • The Decision Brief

The staff must keep the commander continually informed of those things he needs to know, but should avoid burdening him with unnecessary information. As part of Mission Analysis, the staff must brief the commander on the current situation (Facts and Assumptions).

The choice of what to communicate to the commander is based upon:

(1) The staff officers knowledge of the situation.

(2) The commanders instructions.

(3) The staff officers good judgement.

The staff should analyze details and pass to the commander only essential information. Concentrate on details that affect the mission.

SLIDE 5 - MISSION ANALYSIS The mission is assigned by
DEFINITION higher headquarters or is developed or deduced by the commander. Mission analysis is conducted so the commander obtains a thorough understanding of the mission. Mission analysis involves identifying tasks that must be performed (mission essential tasks). They may may be implied or specified from the higher OPORD/OPLAN.Usually, there are limitations on unit tasks that have been identified which may affect mission accomplishment.

SLIDE 6 - STEPS OF B. Mission analysis is a MISSION ANALYSIS four step process:

1) Gather The Facts

2) Make Assumptions

3) Analyze Higher Mission

4) Issue Commander's Guidance

SLIDE 7 - GATHER THE FACTS a. Gather The Facts: You must understand the mission and commander's intent of your higher headquarters and their higher headquarters (two levels up). Each staff officer will determine all of the facts that pertain to their area of expertise, i.e., the S2 will gather facts pertaining to terrain, weather, enemy forces, etc. The S3 will cover facts pertaining to current status of friendly forces, task organization, the mission, etc. Everyone must have a common understanding of the battlefield and understand the mission and commander's intent two levels up in order to continue with the mission analysis process.

Gathering the facts takes time. So, before we go into mission analysis, let's make sure we do not take up all the planning time and leave our subordinate units with none.

SLIDE 8 - 1/3 - 2/3 RULE To ensure subordinate commanders and staffs have sufficient time for planning, subordinate units should have at least 2/3 of the available time to develop their plans. Higher headquarters must use only 1/3 of the time available for planning. This is called the "1/3 - 2/3" rule. Examples of the 1/3 -2/3 rule are:

NOTE: Use blank VGTs Example 1 DEFEND

or dry erase board to

illustrate this. Given: Time to Defend: 04 1800 April.

Order from brigade received: 04 0600 April.

1800 hrs

0600 hrs

12 hours total time available

NOTE: Have student

work through examples 2/3 12 hours = 8 hours

with you. 1/3 12 hours = 4 hours

8 hours planning time to company commanders

4 hours planning time to the staff

0600 + 4 hours = 1000 hours

Therefore: The commander and his staff must issue the order to the company commanders at 04 1000 April.

Example 2 ATTACK

Given: Attack at 21 2100 June

Order received 19 2100 June

21 2100 hrs

19 2100 hrs

48 hours total time available

2/3 48 hours = 32 hours

1/3 48 hours = 16 hours

32 hours to company

16 hours to staff

19 2100 hours + 16 hours = 20 1300 hours

STUDENT CHECK: What is Therefore: The commander and his staff must

the purpose and reasoning issue the order at 20 1300 hours.

for the 1/3, 2/3 rule?

ANSWER: To allow subord-

inate leaders time to plan

and issue orders.

SLIDE 9 - MAKE ASSUMPTIONS b. Make Assumptions: Each staff officer must next identify assumptions that are necessary for the continuation of the mission analysis process. Assumptions replace necessary but missing or unknown information. However, they must be both valid (is the assumption likely to occur?) and necessary (can you continue planning without the assumption?).You must also conduct a force ratio analysis. Using relative values for both friendly and enemy forces, the S2 and S3 will determine the overall combat power of each force and compare the two (factoring in the current strength of each force) to determine what the force ratio is. The force ratio provides conclusions about friendly capabilities pertaining to the operation. The outcome will indicate what type of operation(s) may be possible from both the friendly and enemy perspectives.

NOTE: Conduct an example We will do force ratios in excrutiating detail
force ratio analysis. during Course of Action Development. These
initial force ratios are intended to produce
SLIDE 10 - SAMPLE relative force ratios which will allow the
FORCE RATIO ANALYSIS the continuation of the mission analysis process.

Use Table 2-1 (page 2-4 of ST 100-9, July 93) for relative combat powers.

SLIDE 11 - ANALYZE HIGHER c. Analyze Higher Mission: We must MMMI MISSION understand the purpose of the mission and the intent of each commander two levels up. We must know the answers to the following questions:

What have we been tasked to accomplish?

What specific results are desired?

Where and when must we achieve these results?

Why was our unit given this task?

What limitations have been emplaced upon us? Why?

To develop our mission essential task list and our restated mission, we must identify all specified and implied tasks.

SLIDE 12 - SPECIFIED TASKS Specified Tasks are:

(1) Found (specified) in the Operations Order (OPORD) from higher headquarters.

(2) Specifically assigned to your unit.

(3) Usually found in paragraph 2 (mission) and paragraph 3 (concept of the operation, tasks to subordinate units and coordinating instructions).

(4) Can also be found elsewhere (i.e. annexes or overlays).

SLIDE 13 - IMPLIED TASKS Implied Tasks are:

(1) Developed and deduced by the commander and staff.

(2) Deduced upon a conduct of actual (ground/air) or map reconnaissance of the area of operations/interest.

(3) Not specifically stated in the OPORD or OPLAN.

(4) Special tasks or needs required to accomplish specified tasks or the mission.

NOTE: Give examples of (5) Not inherent, routine

implied tasks (i.e. river or SOP tasks.

crossing operations in the

offense or identifying

routes, SP's and RP's for

battle handover).

SLIDE 14 - MISSION Mission Essential Tasks are

ESSENTIAL TASKS tasks identified from previous tasks lists in chronological order. Previous lists should not be thrown away, as they are tasks that must be accomplished by the unit. Mission essential tasks are:

(1) Listed chronologically (in restated mission).

(2) Taken from above lists (specified and implied).

(3) Becomes source of restated mission.

(4) Absolutely, positively needed for mission accomplishment.

SLIDE 15 - SAMPLE MISSION This is a common method of ANALYSIS MATRIX illustrating your specified, implied and mission essential tasks. You will use this chart when briefing.

SLIDE 16 - LIMITATIONS Limitations are constraints and restrictions placed on the command. Constraints restrict the freedom of action a headquarters has for planning a mission. Stated another way, they are things the planning headquarters must do (i.e., maintain a two battalion reserve; occupy certain battle positions, etc.). Restrictions are limitations placed on the command that prohibit the command from doing something (i.e., do not send out recon prior to xxxx hrs, limit of advance is PL xxxx).

SLIDE 17 - ASSETS AVAILABLE, Assets Available are
RISK, DECEPTION allocated in the task organization (Annex A) or discussed in organizations for combat in paragraph 3. The relationship between mission and assets is critical.

Risk: The higher headquarters might specify risk(s) the commander is willing to accept to accomplish the mission (for example, economy of force in a certain area) or provide guidance pertaining to the use of friendly nuclear or chemical munitions. MOPP, OEG and Troop Safety also specify risk.

Deception: Every operation must have a deception plan. Ensure that your plan supports your higher headquarters deception strategy.

Time Analysis was looked at earlier.

SLIDE 18 - RESTATED MISSION The Restated mission is the outcome of an analysis whereby the commander fully understands the mission assigned to him. From the list of specified and implied tasks identified earlier, those that must be accomplished to complete the overall mission are identified as essential. The restated mission will be the mission statement for the unit. It contains all the elements of a mission statement (WHO, WHAT, WHEN WHERE and WHY). The element WHAT is a chronological listing of key and ultimate essential task(s).

STUDENT CHECK: Where do

the contents of the restated

mission statement come from? The restated mission:

ANSWER: From the mission

essential identified tasks. (1) Contains the 5 W's (Who, What, When, Where, Why).

• WHO is your unit.
• WHAT is the task(s) you need to accomplish that define mission accomplishment.
• WHEN in the defense is stated as Not Later Than (NLT). In the offense, usually "AT" or "BY."
  
  • WHERE is given as the grid coordinates for COORDINATION POINTS on the FEBA or FLOT.
    
• WHY is given as a rephrasing of purposes of the defense/offense and is usually drawn from the higher commander's intent.

(2) Enables commander to issue planning guidance.

(3) Enables the staff planning process to commence.

(4) Becomes paragraph 1 of all staff estimates.

(5) Becomes paragraph 2 of the operations order.

(6) Is displayed in chronological order.

SLIDE 19 - ISSUE COMMANDER'S d. Issue Commanders Guidance: After the GUIDANCE commander approves a restated mission for the unit, he will also provide guidance to focus the remainder of the Command Estimate process. This guidance may include:

Time Plan

Risk Assessment

Limitations on Cmd

Enemy COAs to Consider

IPB Considerations

Key/Decisive Terrain

CCIR

Concept of the Opn

Desired Effect on En

Priorities

EW Usage

Nuclear/Chem Weapons Delivery Guidance

Deception Objective

Type of Reserve

CSS Instructions

SLIDE 20 - COMMANDER'S INTENT The Commander's Guidance must always include the Commander's Intent. The Commander's Intent is a broad vision, stated succinctly, of how the commander intends to conduct the operation. It must state the:

Purpose: why the operation is occurring.
Method: how the operation will occur, in doctrinally concise terminology
Endstate: the desired posture of friendly and enemy forces (in terms of terrain and/or strength) at the completion of the operation

SLIDES 21 - 30 MISSION We have gone over the entire
ANALYSIS EXAMPLE Mission Analysis process. Now we will demonstrate an example. Using the Corps Operations Order, we will briefly conduct a mission analysis for 2AD.

SLIDE 21 - THEATER COMMANDER'S MISSION AND COMMANDER'S INTENT

SLIDE 22 - CORPS COMMANDER'S MISSION AND COMMANDER'S INTENT

SLIDE 23 - SITUATION

SLIDE 24 - FACTS AND ASSUMPTIONS

SLIDE 25 - ASSETS AVAILABLE

SLIDE 26 - TIME ANALYSIS

SLIDE 27 - LIMITATIONS

SLIDE 28 - ACCEPTABLE LEVEL OF RISK

SLIDE 29 - MISSION ANALYSIS MATRIX

SLIDE 30 - 2AD RESTATED MISSION

AND COMMANDER'S INTENT

NOTE: Instructor may use 3^rd

Brigade Mission Analysis slides

as another example now, or as

part of the AAR.

NOTE: Ask for questions before

going on with the practical

exercise.

SLIDE 31 - FACTS

SLIDE 32 - ASSUMPTIONS

SLIDE 33 - LIMITATIONS

SLIDE 34 - SPECIFIED TASKS

SLIDE 35 - IMPLIED TASKS

SLIDE 36 - MISSION ESSENTIAL TASKS

SLIDE 37 - RESTATED MISSION

C. BEGIN PRACTICAL EXERCISE.

a. Directions for the conduct of the PE.

(1) Each group (4-6 groups) will have 4 hours to complete the Mission Analysis process for your brigade. At the end of 4 hours, each group will brief their Mission Analysis (restated mission and recommended PIR) to the brigade commander (instructor).

(2) The format for the briefing can be found on page 6-16 of ST 100-9 (July 93). Only brief the G3 and G2 portions.

(3) The charts needed for this briefing include:

RESTATED MISSION

MISSION/CDR'S INTENT

FACTS

ASSUMPTIONS

LIMITATIONS

WEATHER

ENEMY ORDER OF BATTLE

TROOP LIST/AGENDA

PIR/IR

(4) Your unit is at 100% strength. Use the Intelligence Estimate to determine enemy strengths.

b. Conduct of PE.

(1) Give PE.

(2) Circulate among the students. Provide students with assistance or information as required.

c. Conduct after action review. Instructor may use 3^rd Brigade Mission Analysis slides as part of the AAR, if not used earlier (slides 31 - 38).