Death Of Synchronization

The Death of Synchronization? Command and Control, Planning, and Lessons Learned from OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM I Colonel Eric M. Walters MA MSSI Assistant Chief of Staff, G-2 (Intelligence) III Marine Expeditionary Force E-mail: [email_address]

This presentation is UNCLASSIFIED Selected unclassified source material listed in handout

1994 Prediction: “The Death of Mission Tactics” ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Source: Robert R. Leonhard, Fighting By Minutes: Time and the Art of War . (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994, p. 112.

Obligatory Dead German Quote ,[object Object],[object Object],Source: Carl von Clausewitz, On War, Michael Howard and Peter Paret, editors and translators. (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1976, p. 88

Agenda ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

What Is the Problem? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],These are good for the situations these references and processes are designed to solve—but what about anything else?

What is the Problem? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],TTP are necessarily focused on product and process—but do these cover all potential situations/requirements?

What Is the Problem? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],There is very little in Marine Corps Warfighting Publications and/or Marine Corps Reference Publications that detail how the C2 “parts and pieces” are integrated to execute the plan.

What Worked in OIF I? ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Definitions ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],What are the implications of arranging military actions to achieve“maximum” vice “sufficient” relative combat power?

Definitions ,[object Object],[object Object],All English language definitions indicate that “ synchronized” things are meant to happen together as scheduled/regulated/aligned, or--to use DOD language— as “arranged” in “time, space, and purpose.”

Definitions ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],By itself, however, such coordination is no guarantee of synchronization, unless the commander first visualizes the consequences to be produced and how activities must be sequenced to produce them. -- FM 100-5 Operations , 1993

Definitions ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],In the end, the product of effective synchronization is maximum use of every resource to make the greatest contribution to success. -- FM 100-5 Operations , 1993

Implications ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Implications ,[object Object],[object Object]

Implications: An Army View ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Source: Robert R. Leonhard, Fighting By Minutes: Time and the Art of War . (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994, p. 157

Implications: An Army View ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],Source: Robert R. Leonhard, Fighting By Minutes: Time and the Art of War . (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1994, p. 157

Implications: A Marine Variant ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Examples of Synchronization Matrices (see handout) ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Diagnosis: Deliberate Planning Prior to Hostilities ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Diagnosis: Exercising Prior to Deployment ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Diagnosis: What We Wanted ,[object Object],Source: LtCol Michael D. Visconage & Maj Carroll N Harris, Third Marine Aircraft Wing: Operation Iraqi Freedom . (Quantico, VA: Marine Corps Association, 2004), p. 63.

Diagnosis: What We Got ,[object Object],Source: LtCol Michael D. Visconage & Maj Carroll N Harris, Third Marine Aircraft Wing: Operation Iraqi Freedom . (Quantico, VA: Marine Corps Association, 2004), p. 165.

Diagnosis: Friction ,[object Object],Source: John Keegan, The Iraq War . (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004), pp. 149-151.

Diagnosis: Deliberate Planning During Hostilities ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Diagnosis: Disorder, Complexity ,[object Object],Source: Col. Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR (Ret), Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond: The U.S. Marine Corps in the Second Iraq War . (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 90.

Diagnosis: Fluidity ,[object Object],Source: Col. Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR (Ret), Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond: The U.S. Marine Corps in the Second Iraq War . (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 160.

Diagnosis: Deliberate Planning During Hostilities ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Prescription: Adaptation, Coordination, and Cooperation during Execution ,[object Object],Source: Col. Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR (Ret), Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond: The U.S. Marine Corps in the Second Iraq War . (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 52.

Prescription: Lateral coordination & cooperation ,[object Object],Source: Col. Nicholas E. Reynolds, USMCR (Ret), Basrah, Baghdad, and Beyond: The U.S. Marine Corps in the Second Iraq War . (Annapolis, MD: U.S. Naval Institute Press, 2005), p. 52.

Prescription: Adaptation, Coordination, and Cooperation during Execution ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Critique of Current Planning & C2 TTP ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Some Recommendations ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Some Recommendations ,[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

RPM FM Process Schematic Situational information Guidance/Tasking from HHQ Understand Mission Conceptualize COA Test/Operationalize COA Wargame COA Develop Orders DISSEMINATE EXECUTE IMPROVISE Includes executors as well as planners Once COA satisfices in wargame and/or testing, it becomes THE PLAN. No need to compare options. The “Decision” (subject to test and evaluation)

This presentation is UNCLASSIFIED

Death Of Synchronization

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Editor's Notes