2014 Green Book: The Army operating concept

By Gen. David G. Perkins, Commanding General, U.S. Army Training and Doctrine CommandSeptember 30, 2014

Win in a Complex World

One of our most important missions in the Army's Training and Doctrine Command is to deliver the future Army. This is not simply modernizing organizations, updating doctrine from the most recent fight, applying the latest technology to produce new equipment, or fixating on a single potential adversary. We must first think clearly about the future with a grounded understanding of the continuities in war. War remains human in nature and human conflict is a result of a clash of wills, instigated by competing cultural contexts, political opinions, and friction due to a redistribution of power and competition for resources. From this understanding we must engage in a professional discussion that establishes an intellectual framework for the future Army. From this framework we can build the Army Operating Concept (AOC).

Why do we need concepts to help deliver the future Army? In 1979, shortly after TRADOC Commander, General Donn Starry, began work on AirLand Battle, he issued "Commander's Notes Number 3" in which he described his vision of Operational Concepts and Doctrine. He described a concept as "an idea, a thought, a general notion. In its broadest sense a concept describes what is to be done; in its more specific sense it can be used to describe how something is done."

The Army writes concepts to address challenges. They may arise from a change in the operational environment (foreign or domestic), national security guidance, or to address a known gap in existing capabilities -- any of which may or may not be driven by a change in technology. When faced with one or more of these challenges, we must adjust our capabilities to adapt for crisis and innovate for the future. A concept gives us the framework for leadership to leverage thinking, actions, and technology that drive innovation while maintaining our capability to meet any current threat.

When AirLand Battle was conceived and written, it was to deal with a known. It was written specifically to deal with a known enemy - the Soviet Union; in a known place - the central plains of Europe; and with a known coalition - NATO. Because of the number of known variables, we were able to then develop very specific weapons to fight this known enemy: the famous "Big 5" - M1 Tank, Bradley, Apache, Blackhawk, Patriot.

The challenge AirLand Battle was addressing was how to "Fight Outnumbered and Win." Therefore we developed the Big 5 to attack uncommitted echelons, maneuver to create mass, shoot on the move and win the battlefield "calculus." In many cases it became a math problem trying to service as many targets as possible in as short a time as possible. The focus was on delivering "Fire Power".

Today we have a very different challenge. Our new Army Operating Concept is being developed to deal specifically with the unknown. Not only is the future unknown, but it is unknowable. It is somewhat similar to the Heisenberg principle in that the act of observing or knowing the future changes it, because it causes us to act which causes various reactions, many unpredictable.

Our challenge today is to "Win in a Complex World". Both the challenges of the 1970's and now can be described in six syllables, but many of the similarities end there. First of all we start with "Win" which is more than just the Army. It involves the tactical, operational, and strategic levels of war and decision making in a JIIM environment. It requires a thorough understanding of the problem and the many facets to include cultural, economic, military, and political; an understanding of all the players and the relationships between them; and an understanding of what are the variables that drive change. Our goal now is to deliver elements of "National Power."

All of this happens in a complex world that is constantly changing, unknown and unpredictable. This is a world where coalitions, technology, and positions of advantage change rapidly and possibly without warning. We must have Soldiers, systems, and institutions that get better and gain advantage operating in chaos and the unknown. The emerging trends comprise new and more robust challenges that include: (1) increasing momentum of human interaction; (2) potential for enemy capability overmatch; (3) proliferation of weapons of mass destruction; (4) increasing importance of the cyberspace and space domains; (5) operations among populations in dense urban terrain; (6) ease of technology transfer to state and non-state actors; and, (7) the transparent nature of operations due to ubiquitous media. We are seeing increased lethality in the close fight and improved long range capabilities, the emergence of cyber and electromagnetic threats, and an ongoing effort to grow anti-access and area denial capabilities by multiple nations. Enemies are learning and will employ hybrid strategies in this complex environment to avoid and disrupt U.S. strengths and emulate successful tactics, techniques, and procedures. They will steal, copy, and adapt technology and exploit proxies and criminal networks to expand their influence.

The Army of 2025 and beyond will be prepared to "Win in a Complex World" because of resilient Soldiers, adaptive leaders, and cohesive teams committed to the Army Profession and who know how to use all their capabilities in innovative ways to gain and maintain positions of relative advantage. The new "Big 5" for the future cannot be distilled into only weapons programs but probably looks something like this:

- Optimizing Soldier and team performance.

- Developing adaptive and innovative Leaders and institutions to understand and operate in complex environments.

- Ensuring interoperability.

- Building scalable and tailorable Joint and Combined Arms formations.

- Leveraging concepts and technologies to maintain capability overmatch while speeding deployment and reducing logistical demand.

In addition to the challenges of a changing enemy and the environment, we must account for enduring Army missions. As part of the Joint Force, today's regionally engaged and globally responsive Army prevents conflict, shapes the security environment, and wins wars. The Army maintains the foundational theater capabilities for the joint force commander that is required to assure and strengthen partners, deter adversaries, and sustain the ability to compel. To win wars, Army forces, capable of expeditionary operations from strategic and operational distances, must defeat and compel enemy forces and key actors, establish security, and consolidate gains.

Our concepts must also be grounded in lessons learned and historical insights. For example, the Army's efforts to "harness the electron" for a network enabled force has led to significant improvements in our tactical network even though our path to development included obstacles and setbacks. Another lesson learned from the previous decade of conflict is the importance of considering human factors when planning or conducting military operations. This requires developing military campaigns grounded in social and cultural realities. Military campaigns must be subordinate to the larger strategy, one that includes the diplomatic, political, economic, military, and strategic communications efforts. Army concepts, to include the AOC, are now addressing the importance of the human aspect of military operations and solutions are being developed in changes to doctrine, training and education, and to supporting capabilities. Finally, we must not permit assumptions about 'transformational' technologies to cloud our thinking about the nature of war. Many promising technologies have not arrived as early as originally projected or when they arrived did not become the 'silver bullet' we had planned on. Although we continue in technology development, we cannot predict when tactically relevant weapons will arrive for land forces and cannot develop our concepts that are not grounded.

The Army Operating Concept

The Army Operating Concept (AOC) provides a vision of future armed conflict based on grounded projections of the future operational environment, advances in technology, directed missions, emerging threats, and adversary capabilities. The AOC aims to increase clarity and focus on how future Army forces will operate, articulates how the Army provides the Joint Force Commander with options, and describes how the Army prevents conflict, shapes security environments, and wins wars.

To accomplish the mission, Army forces must possess the ability to gain, sustain, and exploit physical control over land and resources, and exert psychological influence over people by persuasion, threat, and force. The AOC describes tenets and core competencies that provide a foundation for the Army's approach to generating and applying combat power at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels in the future. The framework reflects tenets that guide the generation and application of combat power to achieve operational overmatch at decisive points. Further, commanders should consider the successful application of these tenets to achieve campaign objectives. Additionally, the identified core competencies are the essential capabilities the Army provides to the Joint Force. These competencies are those indispensable contributions in terms of capabilities and capacities beyond what other Services and defense agencies provide that are fundamental to the Army's ability to maneuver and secure land areas for the Nation.

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Elements

Engage regionally

Respond globally

Develop situational understanding

Conduct joint combined arms operations

Establish and maintain security

Consolidate gains

Sustain operations

Respond to crises in the homeland

Ensure institutional and operational synergy

Develop leaders and maximize Soldier performance

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Tenets

Initiative

Innovation

Simultaneity

Depth

Adaptability

Endurance

Mobility

Lethality

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Core Competencies

Shape the security environment

Set the theater

Project national power

Conduct combined arms maneuver

Conduct wide area security

Conduct LandCyber operations

Conduct special operations

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The Army Operating Concept describes how a commander, using military art and science, might employ the capabilities described in the concept. The document does not simply describe potential technologies, but rather provides the basis for identifying and informing decisions about doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership and education, personnel, and facilities. These proposed solutions to the problem above allow us to experiment and evaluate, and eventually develop the capabilities needed to implement a solution. In short, the AOC begins a cycle of examination to evaluate and prioritize resource informed courses of action that take advantage of opportunities and solve problems critical to future force development.

A Trusted Profession

Above all else, competent, ethical leadership will be essential for mission accomplishment in the future. Decentralized operations will place a significant premium on disciplined, confident small units that can integrate joint capabilities, fight together as joint combined arms teams, and work effectively with all joint, interorganizational, and multinational partners. Our tactical small unit leaders and their Soldiers must have improved situational understanding, reasoning and judgment abilities, and the maturity to determine if, when, and how to apply lethal force in support of their mission. Leaders, at all levels, must be able to prepare their units physically, psychologically, and emotionally to meet the pace and complexity of future conflicts. Leaders and their Soldiers must be ready to fight and adapt under conditions of uncertainty and, during the conduct of operations, must also ensure moral conduct and make critical and time sensitive decisions under extreme pressure. The successful and effective conduct of decentralized operations requires exceptionally competent leaders, committed to the Army ethic, who foster a high degree of unit cohesion through tough, realistic training and shared operational experience. Our leaders are our tactical, operational and strategic advantage and their skill allows us to present multiple dilemmas to our adversaries, provide order to chaos in our complex world, and enable multiple employment options of National Power.

Conclusion

Revising our Army Operating Concept is not the end of the journey. Rather, the AOC is only the start of the examination. Completing the task requires the Army to assess, experiment, evaluate, and test proposed capabilities and innovative solutions described in the AOC as part of a continuous learning process in order to complement or replace our current capabilities. Turns and setbacks are sure to happen along this intellectual journey. We must embrace what we learn, challenge our assumptions, and continue to work on delivering the Army that meets our Nation's current and future needs. Moreover, we must assure that developing capabilities remain fiscally prudent, and we will adapt and innovate together with the joint and defense personnel and acquisition systems.

The Army Operating Concept is the intellectual foundation and points the way forward for us to adapt, evolve, and innovate, and to ensure the best Army in the world remains so.

We may not know the specific enemy or challenges we will face in future decades, but you can be sure the strength and capability of our Army will continue to assure our allies of our commitment, deter potential adversaries from action, and if deterrence fails, enable us to compel our enemies away from aggression.