Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 80

supporting units during their drill weekends, conducted
training, planned WFX operations, and executed staff
battle drills. Further training on critical mission-command systems ensured these partner units could talk
on the same networks, see the same common operating
picture, and use the products and standard operating
procedures they needed to be successful. The division’s
deliberate efforts to build a cohesive team were critical
to ensuring opportunistic behavior by all teammates
throughout the WFX.

Preparation:
Command-Post Exercises
The Mission Command Training Program
(MCTP) World Class OPFOR benefits greatly from
the principle that repetition leads to mastery. Having
conducted countless battles upon the same constructive battlefield, the OPFOR has mastered the Decisive
Action Training Environment and its fictional
Atropian area of operations.
Intensive training. Any unit that hopes to achieve
some measure of success against this trained and experienced OPFOR should seek to level the playing
field through its own intensive training program. The
Big Red One team conducted a staff exercise, a robust
WFX academic seminar at Fort Leavenworth, and three
multiechelon command-post exercises. Using a deliberate
planning process, the division increased the complexity of
each subsequent exercise. In this way, it refined systems
and increased competency, trust, and shared understanding throughout the organization. The division maximized
the capabilities of the Fort Riley home-station Mission
Training Center, and it leveraged Total Army and institutional Army partnerships to expand the scope and quality
of the division’s exercises.
During the WFX academic seminar at Fort
Leavenworth, the staff attended the program of instruction during the day and conducted the military
decision-making process over lunch and in the evening.
The staff essentially deployed from Fort Riley to Fort
Leavenworth. In fact, the 1ID took three times more
people to the academic seminar than is typical. This
minimized distractions and let the unit use the time
to its fullest, running key-leader seminars during staff
planning that included the BCTs and staff primaries.
The seminars allowed the division commander to explain his vision to the staff, and they helped the team to
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gel as staff sections learned from one another. This first
repetition of the planning process for the WFX set the
stage for future iterations.
Most division-level headquarters will conduct one
or two command-post exercises in preparation for
their WFXs. The 1ID conducted three. Each of these
events included a deliberate planning process that took
the entire staff and subordinate units through all steps
of the Army design methodology and the military
decision-making process. Each concluded with a combined-arms rehearsal, a fires-and-intelligence rehearsal,
and a sustainment rehearsal. Additionally, each command-post exercise included a four- to five-day operation
against a thinking OPFOR on the Atropian terrain.
The command-post exercises proved crucial to
bringing the final WFX team together and refining
systems and processes. The 1ID experimented with and
improved all its systems, including the configuration of
command posts, the battle rhythm, rehearsal formats,
information processing, targeting, and time-constrained planning. Using three command-post exercises
allowed the division to address another atrophied skill:
command-post displacement, or “jumping.” Between
the second and third command-post exercises, the
division tactical command post (DTAC) jumped five
times, and the division main command post (DMAIN)
jumped once. Each jump increased the proficiency of
the soldiers staffing the command post while significantly deceasing displacement time. The staff revised
its processes for battle handoff of mission-command
functions between command posts while ensuring
situational awareness was maintained. The 1ID made
significant revisions to its systems and processes between the second and third command-post exercises,
and it was not until the third that the team truly came
together and began exhibiting opportunistic behavior.
Simulation operators. Planning, mission command, and command-post operations are only a few
of the proficiencies a unit must master to maximize
opportunistic behavior. While the WFX does a good
job of simulating a real-world decisive-action environment, it is bound by the digital constraints of the
computer program called WARSIM (Warfighter’s
Simulation). The 1ID leadership realized quickly
that they needed to train WARSIM operators at
every level, and allow them to practice on the system.
Officers and NCOs selected as WARSIM operators
January-February 2017  MILITARY REVIEW