118 Marine Corps Planning Process Flashcards
Discuss the following terms as they relate to planning considerations:
Strategic Objective
Operational Objective
Tactical Objective
Strategic Objective – strategic level of war
- Nation (often in a group of nations) determines strategic security objectives and guidance.
- Develops and uses national resources to achieve these objectives.
- Activities establish national military objectives
- Develop global plans and war theater plans to achieve objectives
Operational Objective – operational level of war
- Campaigns and major operations are planned, conducted, and sustained to achieve strategic objectives within operational areas
- Planning for the mobilization, deployment, employment, sustainment, and redeployment of military forces to accomplish assigned missions
Tactical Objective – tactical level of war
- Battles and engagements are planned and executed to achieve military objectives.
- Activities focus on the ordered arrangement and maneuver of combat elements in relation to each other and to the enemy to achieve combat objectives.
- Strategic objective for Okinawa – China & Korea*
- Why Okinawa? In the middle of all the action. American presence in the Pacific.*
- MCPP itself has been largely replaced by the Marine Corps Rapid Response Planning Process (R2P2). Takes less time before a mission can be executed.
Operational Planning Team (OPT)
Operational Planning Team (OPT)
- Task-organized planning element that supports the commander and his staff’s decision-making process.
- Has a diverse composition – people from G-1, G-2, G-3, G-4, G-5, G-6, Staff Judge Advocate, health services, public affairs, and anyone relevant to the mission. Subject Matter Experts. Want to have as many perspectives as possible in planning process.
- They help commander understand the true nature of the problem, which facilitates a practical solution
- Culminates on creation of a coherent, executable operations plan or order
Discuss the Marine Corps Planning Process (MCPP)
Marine Corps Planning Process (MCPP) – Responsive and flexible process that can adapt to the needs of any size unit and adjust to any timetable.
-Used on MEUs, generally with a 24-hour time table to completion.
6 Steps:
1. Problem Framing
- Begins when an order/command is received
- Enhanced understanding of environment and nature of problem
- Commander’s orientation and intent is established
2. Course of Action Development
-Options for how the mission and commander’s intent
might be accomplished
-What needs to be accomplished? How should it be done?
3. Course of Action War Game
- Improves the plan(s) from COA Development
- Refines the options in light of adversary capabilities and other factors (environment, local population, etc.)
- “What if” conversations
4. Course of Action Comparison and Decision
- Commander evaluates different COAs, compares them to each other, and selects the COA he believes will best accomplish the mission.
- Commander can accept a COA as-is, or modify it
- Once he decides, the staff develops the concept of operations (CONOPS)
-CONOPS is a general description of actions that need to happen in order to accomplish the mission
-Fires, logistics, force protection considerations
5. Orders Development
-Translates commander’s selected COA into oral, written, and/or graphic communication
-Should be clear and easily understood
- Guides implementation and promotes initiative by subordinates – everyone on same page
- FRAGOs as needed
6. Transition
-Execution of decided action
- CONOPS brief, Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) drills
- Transition brief – overview of the mission, commander’s intent, task organization, and adversary and friendly situation.
- Confirmation brief – allows the higher commander to identify gaps and learn how subordinate commanders intend to accomplish their missions.
Define the following term as it applies to deliberate planning:
Center of Gravity
Center of Gravity (COG)
- Source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act.
- COG analysis helps you understand your own strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the enemy – can identify “critical vulnerabilities”
- Critical Vulnerability = some aspect of COG that is, or can be made, vulnerable to attack
Define the following term as it applies to deliberate planning:
Commander’s Critical Information Requirements (CCIRs)
Commander’s Critical Information Requirements (CCIRs)
- Commander decides what information is critical, but the staff may propose the CCIRs to the commander.
- CCIRs are continually reviewed and updated
- two subcategories:
friendly force info req’s and
priority intel req’s
- initially CCIRs identify info to assist with planning & decision-making … when answered, inform ongoing design and reflect key info tied to decision points needed for execution
OSCAR Example: Suicide attempt or suicidal ideations when down-range…
Define the following term as it applies to deliberate planning:
Commander Intent
Commander’s Intent
- Commander’s personal expression of the purposes of the operation
- Clear, concise, and easily understood
- Helps subordinates understand the larger context of their actions, and guides them in the absence of orders
Define the following term as it applies to deliberate planning:
TPFDD
Time-Phased Force and Deployment Data (TPFDD)
- Identifies forces and supplies with movement schedules
- Matrix of origin, travel, weight, number, type, destination, and purpose with the final user
-Answers the 5 W’s of Deployment, and the “how” regarding movement
- The JOPES database portion of an operation plan; it contains time-phased force data, non-unit-related cargo and personnel data, and movement data for the operation plan
Discuss the following as they apply to planning:
Top-Down Planning
Single-Battle Concept
Integrated Planning
Top-Down Planning
-Commander drives planning process and is personally involved in every step
- increase understanding … support his decision making
Single-Battle Concept
- Operations or events in one part of the battlespace often have profound and consequent effects on other areas and events.
- Therefore, a commander must always view the battlespace as an indivisible entity.
Integrated Planning
-Coordinates action toward a common purpose by all elements of the force. OPT.
Define the following terms as they apply to deliberate planning:
CONPLAN
OPLAN
FUNCPLAN
Concept Plan (CONPLAN)
- Operation plan in an abbreviated format that may require considerable expansion or alteration to convert it into an OPLAN or OPORD
- Base plan with annexes required by the JFC and a supported commander’s estimate of the plan’s feasibility
- May also produce a TPFDD
Operation Plan (OPLAN)
-Any plan for the conduct of military operations prepared in response to actual and potential contingences.
-A complete and detailed joint plan containing a full description of the concept of operations (CONOPS), all annexes applicable, and a Time-Phased Force and Deployment Data.
Identifies the specific forces, functional support, and resources required to execute the plan and provide closure estimates for their flow into the theater.
Functional Plan (FUNCPLAN)
- Plans involving the conduct of operations in a peacetime or permissive environment developed by COCOM Commander to address requirements such as disaster relief, national assistance, logistics, communications, surveillance, protection of US citizens, nuclear weapon recovery and evacuation, and continuity of operations or similar discrete tasks.
- Plans for making everything better in peacetime…
