Glossary for the military command school.
Command fundamentals
- Command — authority, responsibility, and decision under uncertainty
- Command and control — the exercise of authority and the systems that connect decisions to action
- Mission command — decentralized execution guided by intent and shared understanding
- Commander’s intent — purpose and desired end state that enables initiative
Staff work and orders
- Staff work — the organizational translation of reality into a plan
- Orders — standardized command texts that distribute tasks, constraints, and synchronization
- Battle rhythm — recurring decision cycles that structure operations
- Running estimate — continuously updated staff assessments
Operational planning paradigms
- Operations process — plan, prepare, execute, assess as a continuous cycle
- Operational art — bridging strategy and tactics by designing campaigns and major operations
- Operational design — framing the problem and developing an operational approach
- Operational design elements — common design questions (end state, objectives, decisive points, lines, phases)
- Operational approach — the bridge between design and detailed planning
- Military decisionmaking process (MDMP) — detailed planning pipeline for orders and synchronization
- Joint operation planning process (JOPP) — joint planning pipeline for multi-service integration
Campaigning and adaptation
- Campaign — a series of related major operations aimed at objectives
- Theater of operations — an operational area defined for operations
- Phasing — dividing campaigns into phases with different logics
- Lines of effort and lines of operation — organizing action by space/time vs. conditions/effects
- Branch and sequel plans — contingencies and follow-on plans
Execution management
- Decision points — moments where choices must be made
- Decision support — templates/matrices linking triggers to actions
- CCIR — the commander’s small set of decision-driving information requirements
- PIR — adversary/environment information tied to decisions
- FFIR — friendly status/capability information tied to decisions
- EEFI — friendly information that must be protected
- Synchronization — aligning actions in time, space, and purpose
- Assessment — monitoring progress to drive adaptation
Design and wargaming
- Army design methodology (ADM) — structured problem framing and operational approach development
- Marine Corps planning process (MCPP) — Marine planning pipeline plus a design methodology
- Wargaming — disciplined testing of plans to surface decisions and friction
Force management and services
- Force generation — producing ready units through cycles
- Force development — long-term capability shaping
- Readiness — capability to perform assigned missions
- Service branches — services as enduring institutions shaping jointness