1-1.     Army forces are the decisive component of land warfare in joint and multinational operations. The Army organizes, trains, and equips its forces to fight and win the nation's wars and achieve directed national objectives. Fighting and winning the nation's wars is the foundation of Army service—the Army's nonnegotiable contract with the American people and its enduring obligation to the nation.

1-2.     Because Army forces fight and win the nation's wars, they also deter them. The object of deterrence is the will of state and nonstate political and military leaders. Deterrence establishes in the minds of potential adversaries that their actions will have unacceptable consequences. Today, potential adversaries rely on land-based military and paramilitary forces to retain power, coerce and control their populations, and extend influence beyond their borders. Army forces deter by threatening these means of power retention and population control with the ability to engage in decisive combat and seize and occupy adversary territory. Army forces also deter cross-border aggression through forward presence, forward deployment and prompt, flexible response. Army forces poised for action signal the unquestioned commitment of America to fight and win if deterrence fails.

1-3.     Deployed, combat-ready Army forces reassure allies as they deter potential enemies. The presence of Army forces usually contributes more to the situation than their potential combat power. Army forces on the ground demonstrate that the US is willing to back the host nation with military power. Historically, that backing brings opportunity for stability, and with it, the potential for economic and political development. The armed forces of the ally and Army forces both benefit directly from the cooperation that continuous contact makes possible.

1-4.     The Army's warfighting focus produces a full spectrum force that meets the needs of joint force commanders (JFCs) in war, conflict, and peace. In war, Army forces form the nucleus of the joint force land component—imposing the nation's will on the enemy and causing his collapse. In conflict, Army forces deploy quickly into an area of operations (AO) to deter adversaries and potential enemies from establishing their forces and preclude them from gaining an operational advantage. If deterrence fails, Army forces defeat the enemy, end the conflict on terms that achieve national objectives, and establish self-sustaining postconflict stability. Early movement of Army forces retains initiative and freedom of action by providing JFCs complementary means of conducting decisive offensive operations at times and places of their choosing. If circumstances require, Army forces block an enemy offensive and deliver the counteroffensive blow necessary to win as rapidly as possible. In peace, Army forces train for war. They also help shape the international security environment through peacetime military engagement (PME) activities. Army forces help civil authorities, both at home and abroad, prepare for and respond to natural or manmade disasters as well.

1-12.     JFCs organize actions in time and space to present the enemy with simultaneous, multidimensional threats—land, air, sea, and space. The strategic responsiveness of Army forces adds dominance of the vital land dimension to the capabilities of joint forces. In today's environment, potential enemies understand the dynamics of dimensional combat. They will attempt to sequence their activities to avoid air and naval strikes, while consolidating their position before significant land forces can defeat them. Responsive Army forces give JFCs the ability to conduct operational and tactical maneuver on land early in the operation. Operational and tactical maneuver provides the basis for Army forces to seize and retain the initiative and dictate the terms of land combat. Prompt response increases the magnitude of the enemy's dilemma exponentially. It allows the JFC to apply US military power in complementary and asymmetric ways. This allows the joint force to quickly build and maintain momentum and win decisively.

1-13.     Army forces respond to crises in all environments. They are versatile enough to dominate any situation. Army commanders tailor and train forces to react quickly to any crisis, regardless of its nature or the circumstances.

1-14.     The Army maintains the ability to mobilize reserve component (Army National Guard and US Army Reserve) forces to meet combatant commanders' contingent needs or the requirements of war or national emergencies. The Army also has the facilities, equipment, systems, procedures, and manpower necessary to generate sustained combat power rapidly and effectively.

1-15.     It is impossible to guarantee that active component forces will always be properly configured or sufficiently manned and equipped to meet either unexpected contingencies or the requirements of sustained land combat. Providing the means to expand the Army ensures that the National Command Authorities (NCA) can confront unforeseen threats to national security. Integrated approaches to DTLOMS ensure that all Army components stand trained and ready for action.

1-16.     Army forces make it possible for JFCs to seize areas previously denied by the enemy force. Army forces can strike contested areas from the air, land, and sea. They can establish and secure lodgments for projecting follow-on forces and sustaining the joint force. The airborne and air assault capabilities of Army forces allow JFCs to seize airfields or other important facilities, such as WMD production and storage sites. In conjunction with the Navy and other services, Army forces can conduct amphibious operations. Seizure and retention of land areas extends beyond points of entry. It can occur at any point where JFCs need to conduct operational maneuver.

1-17.     For war to be decisive, its outcome must be conclusive. Army forces today are the preeminent land forces in the world. That preeminence translates into the ability to dominate land operations—the decisive complement to air, sea, and space operations. The threat or use of Army forces is the ultimate means of imposing the nation's will and achieving a lasting outcome. Land operations seize the enemy's territory and resources, destroy his armed forces, and eliminate his means of controlling his population. Only land forces can exercise direct, continuing, discriminate, and comprehensive control over land, people, and resources.

1-18.     Ultimately, it is the ability of Army forces to close with and destroy the enemy that allows the Army to dominate land operations. Army forces close with and destroy enemy forces through maneuver and precision direct and indirect fires. An adaptive enemy attempts to lessen the effects of operational fires. However, with their inherent qualities of on-the-ground presence and situational understanding, Army forces make permanent the otherwise temporary effects of fires alone. Domination extends from the certainty in the minds of enemy commanders that close combat with Army forces, backed by superlative US air and naval forces, will have two outcomes—destruction or surrender.

1-19.     Sustained land operations establish the conditions required for long-term national objectives. Army forces can conduct sustained, large-scale full spectrum operations throughout the theater of operations. Army forces are inherently durable, self-sustaining, and self-replenishing. This endurance allows them to remain in a theater of operations as long as the NCA require. Faced by an enemy capable of prolonged resistance, Army forces create and maintain conditions that lead to the enemy's ultimate defeat.

1-20.     Army operational-level organizations include corps, Army service component commands (ASCCs), numbered armies, and other functional and multifunctional units. These organizations are resourced, trained, and equipped to dominate opposing land forces, control vast land areas, temporarily govern occupied areas, and control populations and resources. Their capabilities include operational and tactical maneuver and fires; command and control (C2) of Army, joint, and multinational forces; theater air and missile defense; intelligence; military and civil engineering; and combat service support (CSS). In addition, ARSOF add special operations capabilities to joint forces. These capabilities include unconventional warfare, foreign internal defense, information operations (IO), WMD counterproliferation, direct action, special reconnaissance, counterterrorism, civil affairs, and psychological operations.

1-21.     Robust combat support and CSS to the joint force make sustained land action possible. Normally, Army forces, through the ASCCs, provide CSS; land-based theater air and missile defense; and nuclear, biological, and chemical defense to support or augment the capabilities of all joint force components. Key Army operational-level support organizations include Army air and missile defense commands (AAMDCs); theater support commands; and transportation (ground and aviation heavy lift), supply, engineer, chemical, finance, medical, intelligence, and personnel units. Each of these can deploy tailorable, early-entry, functional modules. These tailored organizations give Army force commanders the functional expertise and C2 capabilities necessary to provide sustained support to the joint force. If necessary, they expand to provide the support required for each phase of the JFC's campaign.

1-22.     The Army also maintains the structure and expertise necessary to develop, acquire, and supply the equipment and supplies for full spectrum operations. In addition to supplying Army forces, the Army manages certain commodities, such as conventional ammunition, for all services. It also maintains the research and development capabilities and linkages to the US industrial base that give Army forces the best equipment in the world.

1-23.     Army forces adapt and tailor their warfighting capabilities to complement and support civil authorities and agencies at home and abroad. In times of need, Army forces provide support and expertise to reinforce or fill critical requirements beyond the immediate capabilities of civil authorities and agencies. The presence of trained and ready Army forces from active and reserve components in the United States contributes to security and defense of the homeland. The Army can rapidly respond to natural or manmade disasters as well as threats to security because it possesses a robust and diverse force structure, maintains a substantial physical presence throughout the US, and has forces based or deployed forward in every theater. Prompt Army assistance to civil authorities is often a decisive element in disaster relief and crisis resolution. Army forces continue sustained support until civil authorities no longer require military assistance.

1-30.     The national security strategy defines how the US meets challenges in the complex and dynamic global environment. It establishes broad strategic guidance for advancing US interests through the instruments of national power. The detailed formulation of national strategic policy and direction is beyond the scope of this manual. Nevertheless, the national military strategy, derived from national security policy, forms the basis for all operations in war and military operations other than war (MOOTW) (see JP 1; FM 1).

1-31.     The military component of the national security strategy focuses on using military force as an instrument of national power. The NCA combine it with other instruments of national power to preserve, protect, and advance US interests. Military operations influence, and are influenced by, political direction and the integrated use of other instruments of power. The military objective in war is rapid, decisive victory. The NCA determine how that victory contributes to the overall policy objectives. War makes the most overt use of military force. However, successful military operations in any form require Army force commanders with a clear sense of strategic policy goals and objectives. They must understand how using military force fits into the national security strategy and the desired military conditions required to meet policy objectives. In addition, commanders must be able to clearly and concisely articulate this understanding to the US and international media. All political decisions made during operations have strategic, operational, and tactical implications. Likewise, each strategic, operational, and tactical action directly or indirectly affects the political dimension. Translating political decisions into military missions depends on informed and candid assessments. Army force commanders must articulate the military capabilities and limitations of their forces to the JFC, and when required, directly to the NCA.

1-32.     The national military strategy calls for Army forces to act as part of a fully interoperable and integrated joint force. Consequently, the employment of Army forces in campaigns and major operations is viewed from a joint perspective. JFCs synchronize Army force operations with those of other service forces. They exploit Army force capabilities and create an effective joint team.

1-33.     Land operations determine the outcome of major theater wars (MTWs). In an MTW, the nation employs large joint and multinational forces in major combat operations to defeat an enemy nation, coalition, or alliance. The Gulf War of 1991 is an example of an MTW. Army forces are the decisive forces for sustained land combat, war termination, and postwar stability. JFCs normally designate the land component as the supported force during those phases of a campaign. In other phases, they may designate another component as the supported force. In such cases, Army forces support the lead component. During all campaign phases, JFCs synchronize the complementary capabilities of the service components that comprise the joint force. In all cases, JFCs have access to the full complement of versatile Army forces to achieve strategic and operational objectives (see FM 3-100.7).

1-34.     Smaller-scale contingencies (SSCs) encompass a wide range of joint and multinational military operations that fall between MTW and PME. While not all-inclusive, Army forces committed to SSCs protect American lives and interests, support political initiatives, facilitate diplomacy, promote fundamental American ideals, or disrupt illegal activities. As in MTWs, the JFC assigns supported and supporting relationships to components of the joint force to best accomplish the mission.

1-35.     Army forces work with multinational and interagency partners to accomplish their missions. Ideally, multinational and interagency partners provide cultures, perspectives, and capabilities that reinforce and complement Army strengths and capabilities. Close coordination is the foundation of successful unified action.

1-36.     Land combat continues to be the salient feature of conflict. It usually involves destroying or defeating enemy forces or taking land objectives that reduce the enemy's effectiveness or will to fight. Four characteristics distinguish land combat:

• Scope. Land combat involves contact with an enemy throughout the depth of an operational area. Forces conduct simultaneous and sequential operations in contiguous and noncontiguous AOs. Commanders maneuver forces to seize and retain key and decisive terrain. They use maneuver, fires, and other elements of combat power to defeat or destroy enemy forces. Land combat normally entails close and continuous contact with noncombatants. Rules of engagement reflect this.

• Duration. Land combat is repetitive and continuous. It involves rendering an enemy incapable or unwilling to conduct further action. It may require destroying him.

• Terrain. Land combat takes place among a complex variety of natural and manmade features. The complexity of the ground environment contrasts significantly with the relative transparency of air, sea, and space. Plans for land combat must account for the visibility and clutter of the terrain and the effects of weather and climate.

• Permanence. Land combat frequently requires seizing or securing ground. With control of the ground comes control of populations and productive capacity. Thus, land combat makes permanent the temporary effects of other operations.

1-37.     All military operations take place within an information environment that is largely outside the control of military forces. The information environment is the aggregate of individuals, organizations, and systems that collect, process, store, display, and disseminate information; also included is the information itself (see JP 3-13; FM 3-13). National, international, and nonstate actors use this environment to collect, process, and disseminate information. The media's use of real-time technology affects public opinion, both in the US and abroad, and alters the conduct and perceived legitimacy of military operations. Now, more than ever, every soldier represents America—potentially to a global audience.

1-38.     Historically, information superiority has enabled decisive Army force operations. Information superiority enables Army forces to see first, understand the situation more quickly and accurately, and act faster than their adversaries. Derived from the effective synchronization of ISR, information management (IM), and IO, information superiority is an operational advantage that results in friendly forces gaining and retaining the initiative. Effective ISR operations and IM identify the information commanders require, collect it, and get it to them when they need it. Offensive IO degrade an adversary's will to resist and ability to fight while simultaneously denying him relevant friendly force information. Defensive IO protect friendly information and C2 systems. Information superiority means commanders receive accurate, timely information that enables them to make better decisions and act faster than their adversaries. Early attainment of information superiority influences all aspects of Army force operations. For example, sharing accurate, current information between initial-entry and follow-on forces creates the conditions for rapid transition from deployment to employment. Sharing real-time changes in the situation among all elements of a force in contact facilitates synchronization and encourages subordinates to exercise initiative.

1-39.     Technology enhances leader, unit, and soldier performance and affects how Army forces conduct (plan, prepare, execute, and continuously assess) full spectrum operations in peace, conflict, and war. For example, commanders and staffs assess capability differences among Army forces along with those of multinational forces when designing plans, preparing forces, and weighing employment options. Quality information provided by advanced communications and ISR capabilities assist commanders in making decisions. Battle command benefits from the ability of modern microprocessors and telecommunications to collect, process, store, display, and disseminate information faster and with greater precision. Technology improves soldier endurance and protection, thereby increasing the potential for mission accomplishment. Army warfighting methods adopt expanded capabilities in lethal and nonlethal weapons, projectiles, propellants, and power sources. Battlefield lethality increases due to changes in target acquisition, armament, and delivery means. Commanders leverage technological advancement in force protection and discriminate use of force in stability operations. They use improved C2, mobility, and CSS in support operations. Enhanced CSS, C2, and IM increase operational reach.

1-40.     In any operation, Army forces assume that adversaries possess at least some advanced weaponry. Their weaponry may range from a computer connected to the Internet to WMD. Adversaries may also possess information-based technologies or capabilities, such as satellite imagery, night vision devices, or precision-delivery systems. These can present asymmetric threats to Army forces. The potential for asymmetric threats puts a premium on intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and the other intelligence tasks, to include situation development and providing indications and warning. Operational success requires identifying enemy capabilities (strengths and vulnerabilities), intentions, and courses of action.

1-41.     Fielding technologically advanced systems means that commanders will have to combine the capabilities of units at different modernization levels. For example, digitized forces have advantages—such as precision location, precision fires, and in-transit visibility of equipment, personnel, and stocks—that other forces do not. Digitized forces use fires and maneuver with a precision and tempo that less modernized forces cannot match. Force tailoring creates hybrid forces with dissimilar capabilities and technologies. Additional challenges arise during multinational operations. Technological, organizational, and doctrinal differences require exchanging liaison teams and C2, communications, and intelligence equipment. Integrating Army and multinational forces in a way that synchronizes and maximizes their various capabilities is one aspect of unified action.

1-42.     The US does not have a monopoly on technology. Just as US forces exploit technology to achieve an operational advantage, so might an enemy force. Never in history has access to advanced technology been so widespread. Even adversaries lacking a research and development capability can purchase remarkably sophisticated systems in the global marketplace. Commanders and staffs should prepare for adversaries who use technology in very sophisticated ways. These ways may differ sharply from the ways that US forces use similar technologies. Some adversaries may apply new technologies altogether.

1-43.     Even with its advantages, the side with superior technology does not always win in land operations; rather, the side that applies combat power more skillfully usually prevails. The skill of soldiers coupled with the effectiveness of leaders decides the outcomes of engagements, battles, and campaigns. This fact does not lessen the positive effects of advanced technologies. It does, however, challenge soldiers and leaders to realize and use the potential of advanced technologies in the conduct of full spectrum operations.

1-47.     Army doctrine addresses the range of full spectrum operations across the spectrum of conflict (see Figure 1-1). Army commanders at all echelons may combine different types of operations simultaneously and sequentially to accomplish missions in war and MOOTW. For each mission, the JFC and Army component commander determine the emphasis Army forces place on each type of operation. Offensive and defensive operations normally dominate military operations in war and some SSCs. Stability operations and support operations predominate in MOOTW that include certain SSCs and PME.

1-48.     Full spectrum operations include offensive, defensive, stability, and support operations (see Figure 1-2). Missions in any environment require Army forces prepared to conduct any combination of these operations:

• Offensive operations aim at destroying or defeating an enemy. Their purpose is to impose US will on the enemy and achieve decisive victory.

• Defensive operations defeat an enemy attack, buy time, economize forces, or develop conditions favorable for offensive operations. Defensive operations alone normally cannot achieve a decision. Their purpose is to create conditions for a counteroffensive that allows Army forces to regain the initiative.

• Stability operations promote and protect US national interests by influencing the threat, political, and information dimensions of the operational environment through a combination of peacetime developmental, cooperative activities and coercive actions in response to crisis. Regional security is supported by a balanced approach that enhances regional stability and economic prosperity simultaneously. Army force presence promotes a stable environment.

• Support operations employ Army forces to assist civil authorities, foreign or domestic, as they prepare for or respond to crisis and relieve suffering. Domestically, Army forces respond only when the NCA direct. Army forces operate under the lead federal agency and comply with provisions of US law, to include the Posse Comitatus and Stafford Acts.

1-49.     When conducting full spectrum operations, commanders combine and sequence offensive, defensive, stability, and support operations to accomplish the mission. The JFC and the Army component commander for a particular mission determine the emphasis Army forces place on each type of operation. Throughout the campaign, offensive, defensive, stability, and support missions occur simultaneously. As missions change from promoting peace to deterring war and from resolving conflict to war itself, the combinations of and transitions between these operations require skillful assessment, planning, preparation, and execution. Operations designed to accomplish more than one strategic purpose may be executed simultaneously, sequentially, or both. For example, within a combatant commander's AOR, one force may be executing large-scale offensive operations while another is conducting stability operations. Within the combat zone, Army forces may conduct stability operations and support operations as well as combat operations.

1-50.     Commanders allocate different proportions of their force to each type of operation during different phases of a mission. Large units are likely to conduct simultaneous offensive, defensive, stability, and support operations. Units at progressively lower echelons receive missions that require fewer combinations. At lower echelons, units usually perform only one type of operation. For example, an Army corps acting as the joint force land component may allocate two divisions to attack (offense) while a third division secures a port and airfield complex (defense). The defending division may order one brigade to eliminate small pockets of resistance (offense) while two others prepare defenses in depth. Around the airfield and port, designated units distribute food and provide medical support to refugees (support). Still other corps units and ARSOF equip and train host nation forces (stability).

1-53.     Soldiers provide the capability for decisive victory. Success in battle depends on sound doctrine; competent leadership; effective weaponry, equipment, and organizations; and well-trained, motivated, quality soldiers and units. The most important of these factors is soldiers. Their character and competence, combined with the warrior ethos, comprise the foundation of a trained and ready Army. The combination of quality soldiers, competent leaders, and cohesive units creates a versatile, powerful force.

1-54.     The Army needs competent and versatile soldiers able to accomplish missions in a challenging and ever changing global environment. They must be able to successfully accomplish tasks while operating alone or in small groups. Soldiers and leaders must exercise mature judgment and initiative under stressful circumstances and be capable of learning and adapting to meet the demands of full spectrum operations.