OBSERVATION. Commanders and staffs must ensure that subordinates understand the details of the plan. DISCUSSION: Although the commander and staff present a complete and clear order, subordinates may still not understand the details. The command climate and the tempo of operations may also impact on the ability of subordinates to understand the plan. In some units, subordinates, especially those recently task-organized, may avoid asking questions to escape appearing ignorant. Additionally, sustained or continuous operations cause fatigue reducing subordinates' ability to comprehend the order.  Commanders and staffs can assist their subordinates to understand the plan by conducting additional briefings and rehearsals. Back briefs, confirmation briefs, and rehearsals conducted by the commander and staff assist subordinates in understanding the order. CONFIRMATION BRIEF The commander conducts a confirmation brief with subordinates shortly after the operations order briefing. During the confirmation brief, subordinates tell the commander what their mission is. The commander provides subordinates time to analyze their mission while they are still at the order brief Then subordinates brief him on their mission, tasks and their understanding of his intent. If there are misunderstandings, the commander corrects them before the subordinate commander begins planning. BACKBRIEF After subordinate commanders have had time to develop their plans, they meet with the commander collectively to review their plans. The subordinate commanders brief the commander on the details of how they will accomplish their mission. It is beneficial for the commander to meet with all his subordinate commanders together, rather than one at a time. A commander will identify a problem that will require coordination with other commanders. If everyone is at the same location, the problem can be solved quickly while at the backbrief REHEARSALS The final event to emphasize and conduct to ensure subordinates understand the plan is the rehearsal. The commander identifies the type of rehearsal during his planning guidance. There are seven types of rehearsals a commander can choose from: full, key leader, terrain model, sketch map, map, radio and back-brief. His decision will depend on the amount of time and resources available. The most resource-intensive rehearsal is the full rehearsal which requires the use of all units in the battalion or brigade, terrain similar to the area of operation, and sufficient time to drill the execution of the operation. Although the full rehearsal requires a tremendous amount of resources, it provides the most detailed understanding of the mission. The second rehearsal option is the key leader rehearsal. This method requires less resources and time, demanding that only the unit's subordinate leaders participate. The commander designates the level of involvement for subordinates, but does conduct the rehearsal on the same type of terrain as the full rehearsal. The terrain model rehearsal is the third type of rehearsal. The terrain model is similar to the key leader rehearsal, but requires less terrain. The model is built large enough to allow all participants to observe or walk through the model. The terrain model must depict all the information shown on the operations graphics (phase lines, objectives, key terrain features).  The sketch map and map rehearsals are similar to the terrain model rehearsals except the commander replaces the model with an enlarged sketch or a map. During these rehearsals, the commander displays the sketch or map with overlay and talks subordinates through a sequential, interactive, verbal execution of the operation. Both of these types of rehearsals are quicker, yet they cannot accommodate the amount of participants as the previous rehearsals. The radio rehearsal is the sixth type of rehearsal. It requires very little time and resources, but demands that the commander and all participants have the means to communicate with each other and a copy of the operations order. The commander and subordinates rehearse by verbally executing critical portions of the operation. The backbrief rehearsal is the final type of rehearsal. It requires the least amount of resources and is conducted by the commander and subordinates reviewing the operation. During the backbrief, subordinates brief the commander on how they intend to accomplish the mission before they issue their own operations order to his unit. By conducting a backbrief, the commander can ensure that his subordinate commanders' intent is properly nested with that of his own. LESSONS: Commander: Conduct confirmation briefs and backbriefs with subordinates. Commander: Conduct rehearsals to synchronize the efforts of the unit. Back to Table of Contents -- Battalion and Brigade Battle Staff Back to CALL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Coalition Web. Inc. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com