Army Operating Concept Essay

464 Words2 Pages

The Army Operating Concept (AOC) describes how the Army employs forces against increasingly capable opponents to accomplish campaign objectives. The AOC can be divided into the Army Warfighting Challenges (AWFC), which provide an analytical framework for approaching the warfighting functions and focuses the Army when developing the future force. Challenge sixteen of the AWFC, in particular, addresses the Army’s capabilities within a theatre including providing strategic agility and maintaining freedom of movement. In regards to the former, future forces are expected to be able to provide strategic agility when setting a theatre in order to provide a stable operating environment. By retaining a measure of strategic agility, the Army can preserve the AOC tenet of mobility which allows attached forces to gain positions of relative advantage, conduct high tempo operations, and concentrate combat power against decisive points across wide areas. Leaders must also consider …show more content…

As the name would imply, mobility allows leaders to successful move about the theatre in a timely and efficient manner by keeping a high operational tempo and utilizing joint forces to overmatch the enemy. Depth facilitates freedom of movement by preventing the enemy from recovering by forcing commanders to think ahead about operations and strategic outcomes, a savvy leader can apply pressure through knowledge and preparation. Any leader of a future force must be able to adapt to the situation in the theatre, they can do this by thinking critically about the situation, continuously assessing the theatre, and developing innovative solutions to unique problems. Some challenges that a future force may face in maintaining freedom of movement in the theatre could be restrictive terrain, enemy support by fires, and a lack of preparation or