Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE)
Purpose
The purpose of this Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) document, version 2.2, is to provide the US Army training community with a detailed description of the conditions of five operational environments (OEs) in the Caucasus region; specifically the countries of Ariana, Atropia, Donovia, Gorgas, and Limaria. It presents trainers with a tool to assist in the construction of scenarios for specific training events but does not provide a complete scenario. The DATE offers discussions of OE conditions through the Political, Military, Economic, Social, Information, Infrastructure, Physical Environment, and Time (PMESII-PT) variables. This DATE applies to all US Army units (Active Army, Army National Guard, and Army Reserve) that participate in an Army or joint training exercise.
This DATE will incorporate some real-world data and some artificial data in order to set the conditions for a wide range of training events, to include decisive operations. Section 2: Variables of the OE and Orders of Battle (OBs) provides the bulk of these details. The variable discussion explores the complex and ever-changing combination of conditions, circumstances, and influences that could affect military operations within a given OE. The PMESII-PT variables offer insight into each country’s independent, dynamic, and multi-dimensional environment. By defining these variables’ makeup and interoperability as they relate to a specific country, a picture emerges of the environment’s nature and characteristics. The OBs, which follow each country’s PMESII-PT variable discussions, contain the administrative force structure (AFS).
How to use DATE
The DATE is a tool for the training community to use across training events ranging from rotations at the Combat Training Centers (CTCs) to individual home station training (HST) events. It is the baseline document for all the conditions and characteristics of the five OEs in the region. Exercise planners should use this document for all exercise and scenario design requirements. A map showing the location of each CTC component within the Caucasus region is located in Appendix D.
The DATE was developed and designed to allow for flexibility and creativity in its application. Not all conditions in the document need to be represented during each training event. Specific training requirements should drive the scenario development and conditions replicated. If additional description or detail is needed for a given condition, each exercise planner can add that narrative to the condition. The goal is to keep the baseline conditions stable, while allowing for any additional narrative to be added as required by the training tasks. For example, if a scenario story-line requires more detail on the insurgent group the Provisional Army of Lezgin (PAL), this detail can be added by the exercise planner as long as it follows the naming convention and associated group conditions used in the DATE and does not change the baseline story.
A Summary of Changes appears toward the end of this Section and is followed by a Threat Actor chart. All changes appear in text like this that is bold and italicized green text.
DATE Sections
This DATE contains four sections.
· Section 1: Strategic Setting describes the strategic situation of each actor across the Caucasus region and provides an overview of some key strategic issues. This section sets
the stage for the document and presents a starting point for discussing the strategic environment and developing a specific scenario. A particular exercise or training event may need to add more discussion or specific strategic issues to this discussion to support the training requirements necessary for scenario construction and exercise execution.
· Section 2: Variables of the OE and Orders of Battle provides a comprehensive and complimentary look at the PMESII-PT variables as they apply to the region, specifically Ariana, Atropia, Donovia, Gorgas, and Limaria. This section enables the scenario writers and exercise designers to better understand the regional conditions. Detailed OBs, derived from the TC 7-100 series, are provided to adequately stress US Army units across the spectrum of operations.
· Section 3: Events provides a list of non-country specific events that can be used to test the mission essential task list (METL) of various friendly elements.
· Section 4: Orders of Battle Appendices is comprised of four parts. Organizational equipment tables of selected units are in an online version of Appendix A at https://atn.army.mil/dsp_template.aspx?dpID=311. Appendix B provides instructions on how to task organize opposing force (OPFOR) units for combat. Appendix C consists of the OPFOR equipment tier tables from the Worldwide Equipment Guide (WEG). Appendix D is the Road to War, previously found in this section (the Strategic Setting).
Variables of the OE and Orders of Battle
VARIABLES OF THE OE
The variables serve as the DATE’s nucleus and concentrate on the conditions and characteristics of each variable that would significantly impact the military if deployed to that area of the world. Known by the acronym PMESII-PT, the variables center on the political, military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and time components of an OE. In this case, the variables are operationalized to the countries of Ariana, Atropia, Donovia, Gorgas, and Limaria. In effect, this section helps to define the “composite of the conditions, circumstances, and influences that affect the employment of capabilities and bear on the decisions of commanders.” (JP 3-0, definition of an operational environment) Many conditions, activities, and events affect more than one variable and appear in more than one of the PMESII-PT sections.
Each PMESII-PT variable covers the minimum requirements necessary for scenario development and exercise design. This section provides a common baseline of conditions from which various training events may be developed. The political variable defines the government types, their loyalties, stability, and effectiveness. The military variable specifies the type of military organizations; their tactics, capabilities, and weaponry; as well as their level of activity or aggressiveness. The economic variable describes each country’s economic emphasis, structure, financial institutions, and the presence of any shadow economy. The social variable outlines the region’s demographic mix, social volatility, education levels, ethnicity, religious diversity, societal transience, criminal tolerance, and most prevalent languages. The information variable explains the area’s information environment complexity, methods of information distribution, and level of sophistication. For each country, the infrastructure variable outlines the urban layout, building density, level of utilities and services available, and the transportation and information architecture present. The physical environment variable describes the area’s landforms, natural hazards, vegetation, and climate. The time variable expresses the culture’s conceptual view of time, describes important annual events, and explains how each group may use time to its advantage. The actual variables contain more details than the minimum requirements and provide comprehensive information to the reader unfamiliar with the operational area.
ORDERS OF BATTLE
All five countries have an administrative force structure (AFS) to manage their military forces in peacetime. This AFS is the aggregate of various military headquarters, facilities, and installations designed to man, train, equip, and sustain the forces. In peacetime, forces are commonly grouped into divisions, corps, or armies for administrative purposes. The AFS includes all components of the armed forces-not only regular, standing forces (active component), but also reserve and militia forces (reserve component). Normally, these administrative groupings differ from the country’s order of battle (OB), which is its go-to-war (fighting) force structure that is task-organized to meet the combat situation. For information on how to use the AFS to obtain an OB, see Appendix B: OPFOR Task-Organizing for Combat on page 4-B-1.