Difference between revisions of "FM 7-100.1 Opposing Forces Operations"

Revision as of 19:54, 17 April 2017

This manual is part of the FM 7-100 series, which describes a contemporary Opposing Force (OPFOR) that exists for the purpose of training U.S. forces for potential combat operations. This OPFOR reflects the characteristics of military and paramilitary forces that may be present in the contemporary operational environment (COE). Like those real-world threats, the OPFOR will continue to present new and different challenges for U.S. forces. The COE is constantly changing, and it is important for U.S. Army training environments to keep pace with real-world developments.

1 Introduction
- 1.1 Contemporary Operational Environment
  - 1.1.1 Critical Variables
    - 1.1.1.1 Nature and Stability of the State
2 Chapter 1: 21st Century Strategic Environment
3 Chapter 2: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation
4 Chapter 3: Operational Environment Enterprise Support

Introduction

Contemporary Operational Environment

The DOD officially defines an operational environment (OE) as “a composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of military forces and bear on the decisions of the unit commander” (JP 1-02). The contemporary operational environment (COE) is the operational environment that exists today and for the clearly foreseeable future. There are some “constants” or common threads that define the general nature of this COE:

The United States in not likely to have a peer competitor until 2020 or be- yond.
However, nations will continue to field armed forces and use these forces as a tool to pursue national interests.
As nations use their armed forces (or other instruments of national power) in pursuit of national interests, their actions may cause U.S. intervention, either unilaterally or as a coalition partner, with or without United Na- tions mandate.
Nations that believe the United States may act to counter their national interests will develop diplomatic, informational, economic, and military plans for managing U.S. intervention.
Nations will continue to modernize their armed forces within the con- straints of their economies, but in ways that may negate U.S. overmatch.
Advanced technology will be available on the world market for a wide va- riety of nation-state and non-state actors.
Non-state actors will play an important role in any regional conflict¾as combatants or noncombatants.
All combat operations will be significantly affected by a number of vari- ables in the environment beyond simple military forces.

Thus, one of the constants is that there are variables. Those “variables” in the COE result in a number of different OEs that can occur in specific circumstances or scenarios.

Critical Variables

Any OE, in the real world or in the training environment, can be defined in terms of eleven critical variables. While these variables can be useful in describing the overall (strategic) environment, they are most useful in defining the nature of specific OEs. Each of these “conditions, circumstances, and influences” and their possible combinations will vary according to the specific situation. In this sense, they are “variables.” These variables are interrelated and sometimes overlap. Different variables will be more or less important in different

situations. Each OE is different, because the content of the variables is different. Only by studying and understanding these variables--and incorporating them into its training--will the U.S. Army be able to keep adversaries from using them against it or to find ways to use them to its own advantage.

Nature and Stability of the State

It is important to understand the nature and stability of the state (or states) with which or in which the conflict takes place. Study of this variable measures how strong or weak a country is and determines where the real strength of the state lies; it may be in the political leadership, the military, the police, or some other element of the population. Understanding this variable will allow U.S. forces to better understand the nature of the military campaign and the true aims of an enemy campaign, operation, or action. It also helps determine what kinds of threats may be present in a particular country. The real threat to U.S. forces may come from elements other than the military.

Chapter 1: 21st Century Strategic Environment

The strategic environment remains as it has always been―complex. The current strategic environment seems more ambiguous, presenting multiple layers of complexity and a multiplicity of actors challenging the Army with requirements beyond traditional warfighting skills and training. A wide-range of actors across current and projected environments–friendly and neutrals, malicious actors, and threats–will interact often in an uncoordinated manner to produce a complex environment. Neutral or even friendly actors act in accord with organizational goals that may be contrary to U.S. national interests and cause friction. Malicious actors use violence in pursuit of their goals and will potentially challenge U.S. national interests and vulnerabilities. Threats will use this complexity to their advantage and often employ hybrid strategies. This multiplicity of actors will continue to operate across operational environments during the foreseeable future.

Chapter 2: Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation

There are five phases the training and curriculum developer progresses through to develop and institute training, education, and leader or self-development material. The analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) process takes the training and curriculum developer from the initial determination of a requirement or need through the analysis, design, and development phases; to implementation of a learning experience; and continues a learning continuum with evaluation improvements of training or education products-process. The required outcome of this continuum is a sustained and/or improved readiness to standards.

Chapter 3: Operational Environment Enterprise Support

The Operational Environment Enterprise (OEE) builds, validates, creates, maintains and delivers OE context and complexity for leader development; training and professional education; experience, and concept and capabilities development.

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-Training Circular (TC) 7-102, ''Operational Environment and Army Learning'', is a practical guide on how to integrate the conditions of an operational environment (OE) into robust, relevant, and realistic training, professional education, and leader development experiences. This TC presents critical design techniques and means that support the fundamental concepts of a continuously adaptive learner-centric model—the Army Learning Model (ALM)—for improved Army mastery to anticipate, understand, and adapt successfully to complex, uncertain, and/or ambiguous environments in decisive action.
+This manual is part of the FM 7-100 series, which describes a '''contemporary Opposing Force (OPFOR)''' that exists for the purpose of training U.S. forces for potential combat operations. This OPFOR reflects the characteristics of military and paramilitary forces that may be present in the '''contemporary operational environment (COE)'''. Like those real-world threats, the OPFOR will continue to present new and different challenges for U.S. forces. The COE is '''constantly changing''', and it is important for U.S. Army training environments to keep pace with real-world developments.
-The purpose of this TC is to guide the training developer, curriculum developer, and leader or commander on how to integrate  OE conditions that  enhance  self-development, leader development, and unit  or activity readiness. The intent is to achieve and sustain adaptive Army readiness to standards. Learning experiences range from personal one-on-one instructor-student or mentor-mentee dialogue to technology-enabled simulations and operational mission or training feedback that replicate a particular set of OE conditions in a task/action, conditions, and standards format. The Army’s Operational Environment Enterprise (OEE) delivers OE products, services and support to its Soldiers, civilians, leaders, and supported and supporting stakeholders for readiness. The OEE projects from the institutional training domain, that is, the Army’s institutional training and education system, and impacts the entire Army mission.
 __TOC__
 ==Introduction==
-The Operational Environment Enterprise (OEE) is an integrated training environment (ITE) resource that leverages technology-enabled presentations and other information for individual and collective learning experiences and expertise, as well as Army concepts and capabilities development with robust, realistic, and relevant OE conditions. The support provided by the OEE reaches across all Army learning domains with repositories of historical documentation; current observations and lessons learned; projected capabilities requirements, development, and experiment information; and facilitates integrated live, virtual, constructive, and gaming (LVCG) environments.
-The Army’s institutional training domain includes but is not limited to Centers of Excellence (CoE), training base centers, schools, academies, and related programs that provide initial training and subsequent professional military education and training for Soldiers, Army leaders, and Department of the Army Civilians (DAC). The OEE leverages technology-enabled learning for individual and collective experiences and expertise, as well as Army doctrine, concepts, and capabilities development with robust, realistic, and relevant OE conditions.
-The OEE enhances capabilities that create the intellectual agility and operational adaptability to prevent conflict, shape the environment, and when required, win our nation’s wars. Initiatives and innovations expressed through the OEE shape the Army for future OEs and mission requirements with concepts and capabilities synchronized and integrated across Army doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities (DOTMLPF).
-The Army trains and educates its members to develop agile and adaptive leaders and organizations. A complementary requirement in both the operational and institutional Army is leader self-development. Applying the ''U.S. Army Mission Command Strategy FY 13-19'' to deliberate and intuitive decisionmaking and effective action in dynamic conditions that require a perceptive awareness and clear understanding of the complexities in an OE.
-This TC presents examples of “how to” develop effective learning experiences among the Army’s integrated programs of leader development (LD), training, and experience for the Soldier and Army Civilian. The charter for the training developer, curriculum developer, and leader or commander is to identify challenging conditions for a realistic OE to the task/action and standard being developed or institutionalized. These conditions include considerations of professional military and Army civilian education, individual and collective predeployment training, and operational missions. Efficiently and effectively embedding OE conditions in the Army learning continuum maintains the Army as an adaptive and dominant land force in conjunction with unified action partners, service members, and civilians.
-The Army uses operational variables of political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and time (PMESII-PT) to analyze and describe the conditions of an OE. These operational variables influence each other to varied degrees dependent on time and conditions in a particular continuum of actions. An OE is complex and uncertain as variables increase or decrease in apparent or confirmed importance and effects. The dynamic nature of an OE is an essential consideration in how to train, educate, and self-develop Army members and leaders as adaptive, flexible, and versatile decisionmakers. The Army—people—must be proficient in shaping conditions in support of military plans and operations, and respond effectively to subtle or rapid changes in OE conditions in order to accomplish an Army mission in the context of unified action requirements and directives. The U.S. Army must demonstrate progressive expertise in operational adaptability. (See figure2.)
-As the U.S. Army improves its available LVCG collaboration of observations, lessons learned, and capabilities development and experimentation venues for Army readiness, the OEE becomes an expanding resource for OE conditions in support of the Army mission. Complex, uncertain, and sometimes ambiguous conditions of an OE are integral to―
-* Improving Army doctrinal training, education, and leader development literature.
-* Recurring OE analyses and OE assessments
-* Emerging representations of composite or specific adversaries, threats, or known enemies.
-* Modeling and simulations of possible or projected tactical, operational, and/or strategic conditions, including the human dimension.
-Change is a constant. An OE is dynamic and evolves. Training and educational experiences span individual, functional, and collective training by units, activities, and organizations, home station training (HST), field exercises and other simulations, and the combat training centers (CTCs). A companion to this training circular for integrating conditions of an OE into learning experiences is TC 7-101. Similarly, Army professional education and training span individual Soldier, civilian, and Army leader self-development through initial entry, mid-grade, intermediate, and strategic levels of learning. Development of learning experiences include products such as combined arms training strategies (CATS), warfighter training support packages (WTSPs), collective and individual tasks, drills, and staff and faculty development requirements. Applying adult learning principles uses the analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) process to conduct instructional system design.
-TC 7-102 contains three chapters and three appendices:
-'''Chapter 1''' describes the 21st Century strategic environment and the importance to the training and education developer of understanding the operational environment and integrating that OE the instructional design process to produce relevant and realistic learning experiences. The chapter provides a primer on OE analysis and a description of the operational variables (PMESII-PT) that drive analysis with discussion of the possible learning and education implications of an OE.
-'''Chapter 2''' describes, in general, the instructional design process of analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation (ADDIE) and important considerations for how to integrate OE conditions into that design. The chapter provides a step-by-step guide to each phase of the ADDIE process and includes an exemplary vignette to facilitate understanding.
-'''Chapter 3''' describes support provided by the Operational Environment Enterprise (OEE). This chapter provides an understanding of the resources available to the training and education developer.
-'''Appendix 1''' contains a job aid for OE integration into the ADDIE process. For each phase, there are OE considerations and relevant questions.
+=== Contemporary Operational Environment ===
+The DOD officially defines an ''operational environment'' (OE) as “a composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of military forces and bear on the decisions of the unit commander” (JP 1-02). The ''contemporary operational environment'' (COE) is the operational  environment that exists today and for the clearly foreseeable future'''.''' There are some “constants” or common threads that define the general nature of this COE:
+* The United States in not likely to have a peer competitor until 2020 or be- yond.
+* However, nations will continue to field armed forces and use these forces as a tool to pursue national interests.
+* As nations use their armed forces (or other instruments of national power) in pursuit of national interests, their actions may cause U.S. intervention, either unilaterally or as a coalition partner, with or without United Na- tions mandate.
+* Nations that believe the United States may act to counter their national interests will develop diplomatic, informational, economic, and military plans for managing U.S. intervention.
+* Nations will continue to modernize their armed forces within the con- straints of their economies, but in ways that may negate U.S. overmatch.
+* Advanced technology will be available on the world market for a wide va- riety of nation-state and non-state actors.
+* Non-state actors will play an important role in any regional conflict¾as combatants or noncombatants.
+* All combat operations will be significantly affected by a number of vari- ables in the environment beyond simple military forces.
+Thus, one of the constants is that there are variables. Those “variables” in the COE result in a number of different OEs that can occur in specific circumstances or scenarios.
-'''Appendix 2''' contains an exercise design checklist as a ready reference for training and education developers who include an exercise as part of their instruction. This topic is treated in detail in TC 7-101, ''Exercise Design''.
+==== Critical Variables ====
+Any OE, in the real world or in the training environment, can be defined in terms of eleven critical variables. While these variables can be useful in describing the overall (strategic) environment, they are most useful in defining the nature of specific OEs. Each of these “conditions, circumstances, and influences” and their possible combinations will vary according to the specific situation. In this sense, they are “variables.” These variables are interrelated and sometimes overlap. Different variables will be more  or  less  important in different
-'''Appendix 3''' contains a threat opposing force (OPFOR) tactical task list from TC 7-101. The chapter includes a concise explanation of applying OPFOR conditions in learning objectives.
+situations. Each OE is different, because the content of the variables is different. Only by studying and understanding these variables--and incorporating them into its training--will the U.S. Army be able to keep adversaries from using them against it or to find ways to use them to its own advantage.
-This publication does not introduce or modify existing doctrinal terms. The glossary contains applicable acronyms and defined terms.
+===== Nature and Stability of the State =====
+It is important to understand the nature and stability of the state (or states) with which or in which the conflict takes place. Study of this variable measures how strong or weak a country is and determines where the real strength of the state lies; it may be in the political leadership, the military, the police, or some other element of the population. Understanding this variable will allow U.S. forces to better understand the nature of the military campaign and the true aims of an enemy campaign, operation, or action. It also helps determine what kinds of threats may be present in a particular country. The real threat to U.S. forces may come from elements other than the military.
 ==Chapter 1: 21st Century Strategic Environment==