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According to FM 100-5, doctrine is the statement of how the Army thinks about operating on the battlefield. This manual on personnel doctrine expands upon how the personnel community thinks about operating on the battlefield in support of the U.S. Army and its soldiers.

As FM 100-5 states, soldiers are the focal point of warfare. They are the foundation of the Army's will to win. The tactical function of manning is executed by personnel units to ensure that soldiers of the right type and in the right numbers are on the battlefield. Their spirit, initiative, discipline, courage, and competence are the basic building blocks of a successful Army. Another large portion of the personnel support mission is to then enhance the combat capability of the soldier through sustainment, thereby increasing combat power.

Personnel doctrine must be complete enough to guide operators, yet not so prescriptive that it limits support for the commander and his soldiers. Much like the tactical commander, the personnelist must be versatile and able to improvise to ensure continuing support. To lay out a doctrine so complete as to outline all possibilities would tie the hands of the supporter. Knowledge of doctrine, combined with experience, provides a foundation for superior execution.

This manual outlines how the personnelist ensures responsive, flexible personnel support for commanders and soldiers. It defines objectives and standards for integrating continuous support into a joint or combined battlefield and outlines those conditions and missions the personnelist must anticipate. We must stay focused on these concepts because they are among the keys to both warfighting and soldier support. If we rely too much on prescription and deny the commander flexibility, then we undermine the ability of units and commanders at all levels to operate effectively.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE U.S. ARMY

The characteristics of our Army, described in FM 100-5, outline what it takes to accomplish the mission. The personnel support mission must mirror these characteristics when it considers how it intends to support the Army.

TRAINED TO FIGHT AS A JOINT OR COMBINED FORCE

As the Army seeks to synchronize its warfighting capabilities with all services, the personnel services community must also strive to integrate its capabilities. To ensure unity of effort, joint personnel services require formal agreements, memorandums of understanding, and exchanges of liaison officers. Critical personnel management procedures must be developed and exercised, and personnel leaders must train to operate in the joint arena. At any level, the combatant commander may direct a service component to support particular personnel services functions. For example, the U.S. Navy may be tasked to provide medical support in port facilities. Yet the Army personnel community must still account for personnel and track return-to-duty (RTD) replacements. Duplication of support among the services is expensive and wasteful. Personnel plans and training must simultaneously provide for continuity of support and versatility.

VERSATILE

Personnel support is provided across the range of military operations. Personnelists must adapt to new conditions without time for retraining. Units that routinely handle critical personnel functions may be called upon to handle new missions. Personnel units must have the ability to meet diverse challenges, shift focus, tailor forces, and move from one role or mission to another. For example, a personnel services battalion which routinely handles casualty reports may be called upon to process replacements, a non-METL task. Personnel units may also be called upon to simultaneously deploy and redeploy forces. Additionally, personnel services routinely conducted in peacetime, such as promotions, are also necessary in war and operations other than war (OOTW).

DEPLOYABLE

The personnel unit must be capable of both deploying itself and supporting simultaneously deploying units and soldiers. Deployability is a function of readiness. Commanders conduct soldier readiness processing (SRP) checks for deployability with the support of the personnel community. In addition, personnel units must also be capable of split-base operations. These units must be able to support simultaneously the deployment of units from home station and the reception of others enroute to the area of operations. They must also keep commanders informed of the units' capabilities. Personnel units must demonstrate the ability to alert rapidly, deploy, and conduct self-sustained operations anywhere in the world, in war and OOTW.

EXPANSIBLE

The generation of forces to respond across the range of military operations is a critical mission of the personnel community. As the Army's active duty capabilities streamline, mobilization of reserve units and individual soldiers to sustain Army operations will increase. The personnel community will be increasingly called upon to support the tactical mission by tailoring personnel units and assigning unique force packages.

CAPABLE OF DECISIVE VICTORY

In order to defeat all adversaries through a total force effort, personnelists must understand the goals of the total force in Army/Joint/Combined operations. Personnel support must include the commander's intent by developing, fielding, and training capable, mission-ready, task-organized units.

ARMY OPERATIONS TENETS

Success in Army operations depends on the Army's ability to fight while applying the five tenets: initiative, agility, depth, synchronization, and versatility. Personnel doctrine derives directly from these fundamentals. Overall, the tenets describe both the actions of personnel units and the units themselves. Application of the tenets allows the Army to follow up rapid successes by moving fast, striking hard, and not permitting the enemy to recover. Personnel doctrine shapes the personnelists' thought, so that they can work closely with tactical planners.

INITIATIVE

Personnel units must support quickly changing environments. Personnelists display initiative by anticipating or forecasting requirements, planning alternative methods of support, tailoring units, pushing support forward, and changing customer support priorities in response to tactical and operational requirements. Personnel planners look beyond the initial battle and anticipate key events. In the attack, these key events may be regeneration and casualty support. In the defense, it may mean shifting resources forward in anticipation of the attack. Initiative also requires the ability to act independently within the framework of the commander's intent. It involves taking risks. Personnelists, like tactical commanders, must balance the risks between slow, centralized precision of execution and decentralized, and may be inexact, quick action. Personnel commanders must accept the risk inherent in decentralized operations, then nurture courage and competence in their subordinates.

AGILITY

Agility requires personnelists to make decisions and react quickly on a changing battlefield. Personnel support must be proactive, not reactive. To do this, personnelists require real-time information. They monitor status reports and determine trends or problems in support. The access to information and systems at joint, strategic, operational, and tactical levels enables personnelists to make realtime decisions. Agility requires a tailorable, deployable, and self-sustaining force.

Personnel unit commanders tailor subordinate units to provide deployable packages according to METT-T and support requirements.

Agility also requires deployed personnel units to process current information, especially strength, readiness, casualty, or replacement reports, without linkage to the sustaining base. Connection to the sustaining base or long lines of support for data processing reduces agility. Moving personnel units forward shortens the distance between supporting and supported units. Making personnel units as mobile as the maneuver units they support helps ensure shorter lines of communication.

DEPTH

Depth is the extension of operations in time, space, resources, and purpose. Depth and simultaneous operations are linked. Personnel units must be able both to support across the breadth of an area of operations and to conduct support for more than one type of mission. A postal unit may simultaneously provide support to soldiers of a peacekeeping mission while supporting nation building by training a country how to set up and run its own postal operations system. To ensure supportability of multiple missions, the personnel support community focuses upon critical functions, delaying others until time permits reinstating them. Decisions such as this, however, must be critically linked by an appreciation of mission, intent, and end state. In this regard, the personnelist must understand the commander's vision, anticipating future situations and actions and the effect they will have on the desired end state.

SYNCHRONIZATION

Both in war and OOTW, the end result of synchronization is the maximum use of every resource when and where it will contribute most to success. Personnelists must understand the commander's vision of the end state and how he will sequence activities to achieve them. When resources are not forward-deployed, early entry, build-up, and sustainment are highly complex. Joint and combined operations also demand careful synchronization of personnel support to ensure efficient use of all available resources. Personnel commanders need to consider the array of branches and sequels that may follow when making decisions early in the operation. Throughout the depth of the operation, from CONUS to lodgement, to forward location, personnelists, like logisticians or tacticians, will have to synchronize events to ensure success.

Synchronization requires advance planning. For support and resources to arrive where and when needed, the personnelist coordinates with supporting and supported units. This requires integration of transportation assets and other resources. For a replacement company to provide soldiers to support an operation, the personnelist must understand mission priorities and how replacements are equipped, assigned, and transported. Synchronization requires coordination between the personnelist, tactician, and logistician.

Synchronization is unity of effort. Personnelists coordinate support based on the commander's intent and priorities. Personnel plans must support tactical and operational plans and ensure coordination for sustaining the soldier and the personnel unit. As necessary, resources are cross-leveled, and forces are tailored among personnel units to accomplish the mission.

VERSATILITY

Versatility stresses the ability to shift skills, resources, and forces rapidly from one activity to another without diminution of ability. Versatility requires personnelists and personnel units to meet diverse challenges, shift focus, tailor forces, and move from one role or mission to another efficiently and rapidly. This may require a personnel unit processing soldiers at aerial ports of embarkation to shift missions and begin mobilizing reserve units. Versatility may require personnel units to operate simultaneously in war and OOTW scenarios.

Many of these requirements to support non-METL tasks will take place in OOTW, since resources or command and control elements will be limited. Additionally, personnelists and personnel units may have to operate at tactical and operational levels simultaneously. PSB commanders may receive the additional mission of supporting a theater data base at the operational level while simultaneously performing the tactical missions. The emphasis here is the ability to rapidly adjust to meet diverse requirements.

Although units will primarily focus on their METL tasks, they must be prepared to quickly undertake other than METL-task missions. The tenet of versatility may require development and exchange of in-depth battle books, SOPs, and how-to manuals within the personnel services community. Versatility will also require multi-functional training.

SUSTAINMENT CHARACTERISTICS

The sustainment characteristics as outlined in FM 100-5 facilitate effective, efficient personnel operations. These attributes apply to war and OOTW and at all levels and echelons. Personnelists must anticipate requirements and integrate personnel concepts and operations into plans. Personnel services operations must be responsive to the commander and soldiers, providing continuous support to deployed and non-deployed forces. The fluid and dynamic nature of modern warfare makes circumstances difficult to predict with certainty. Therefore, personnelists must prepare to improvise and expedite support when needed.

ANTICIPATION

Personnelists must accurately anticipate the impact which changing tactical situations will have on personnel systems. We need to understand clearly the commander's vision and intent to anticipate better the requirements to provide critical and timely personnel support. Anticipation means identifying, processing, and housing replacements necessary to support future operations. It also means developing personnel support capabilities that are mobile and versatile enough to serve likely operations.

Personnelists visualize all the phases of a major operation while planning in detail for the current phase. An example of phased anticipation was the Desert Storm replacement system which "pushed" pre-planned replacement packages to Southwest Asia (SWA) at the start of the conflict. A PULL requisition system replaces the PUSH system of replacements after ground combat begins. Anticipation also means planning for likely scenarios. Comprehensive SOPs and contingency plans help personnelists respond rapidly to changes in demands that result from changes in tactical operations.

Rather than merely reacting to support requirements, personnelists must focus on responsive support of future tactical operations. Anticipation means maintaining or accumulating the assets necessary to support the operation.

Historical Perspective

INTEGRATION

The success of strategic, operational, and tactical plans depends on the integration of personnel concepts and operations with those plans. The time needed to arrange personnel support and to deconflict problems requires continuous integration of personnel support into the planning process. To enable personnelists to weigh the supportability of proposed courses of action, personnel estimates and plans must be developed concurrently with operating plans. When the Army supports either a joint or combined force, the personnelist integrates and synchronizes his personnel support plans with the other services or allies.

Personnelists must plan their operations to give the operational and tactical commanders the greatest possible support in an accurate and timely manner. The transporting of replacements and mail exemplifies integration of personnel and logistic support to the battle. The simple integration of personnel support into tactical operations planning allows the personnelist to support the battle by prioritizing replacements and other critical functions to support the main effort.

CONTINUITY

Maintaining a depth of personnel resources ensures providing continuous support for commanders and soldiers. However, in a streamlined Army, continuity must be more than duplication of effort or assets, because duplicate assets are no longer available. Continuity relies on thorough planning to support missions. For example, a plan may require support to detached units. A personnel detachment may be detached from a PSB to support these units. The PSB may also have to provide command and control for postal and replacement squads or perform the replacement or postal mission itself for a short period. No longer will the personnel support structure have assets to duplicate those command and control cells.

Continuity also requires adapting to changing missions and adjusting to losses of key personnel units or equipment. If units have designated back-up missions, continual support is more likely. For example, a PSB may have to provide a personnel detachment to temporarily conduct limited postal functions until postal units are available. Planners need to weigh degradation of a unit's ability to perform its primary critical personnel functions before requiring a unit to perform back-up support.

Forward-positioning of support and split-based operations enhance continuity of support. These options may require a reduction in essential personnel functions. Force projection operations require careful planning and balancing of the costs of these limitations against the risk of interrupting continuity of support.

RESPONSIVENESS

Responsive personnel support enables commanders to meet changing requirements on short notice. These quick-reaction efforts may temporarily disrupt long-range personnel support planning, but they are required for operational success. Peacetime training such as soldier readiness program exercises put great demands on a resource-strained personnel services system, but these exercises enhance the responsiveness of that system and both personnel support and supported units. Effective planning, solid training, and good leadership develop the mental and physical abilities of personnel soldiers. These exercises train them to refocus quickly to the changing and demanding requirements of war and operations other than war.

To provide responsive support, personnel officers need to understand missions of supported units. Automated reports keep personnel officers current on the status and capabilities of units allowing quick personnel support response. A basic principle of personnel support is forward support. The support-forward doctrine allows timely personnel services support to commanders and soldiers.

Responsiveness is linked to versatility, and it requires tailoring and flexibility in personnel support functions, units, and soldiers. It means personnel units must adapt to requirements of performing non-METL tasks and soldiers, non-MOS tasks.

Historical Perspective

Responsiveness means adjusting personnel support to meet commanders' and soldiers' needs. It is the ability of the unit to readily adapt to different or changing requirements. It is closely tied to improvisation.

IMPROVISATION

Successful personnel operations adapt to dynamic conditions by improvising when needed. Personnelists need to devise innovative methods of support to offset the impact of unexpected battle losses and delays. These may include cross-leveling of soldiers or equipment or devising ways to meet unanticipated peaks in workloads. Innovative solutions also may include exploiting unusual sources of supplies or equipment.

Historical Perspective

Smart commanders and personnelists learn to anticipate the unexpected and adjust accordingly. Enemy action, however, can disrupt plans and require improvisation. Improvisation may mean rerouting replacements or supplies to meet critical requirements or using items of equipment in unconventional ways.

OPERATIONS OTHER THAN WAR

Outside of combat, personnel units are especially critical during pre-crisis/conflict and redeployment activities. Normally, personnel elements are among the first to deploy and the last to redeploy. Commanders should anticipate this and plan accordingly. Personnel elements are especially important in OOTW in order to provide support to soldiers involved in the operation. To support personnel readiness management, commanders should ensure that deployable elements with data base capabilities flow early into the theater, usually concurrent with other sustainment data bases.

OOTW are designed to promote regional stability, protect U.S. interests, provide human assistance, and assist civil authorities, U.S. and foreign. These operations may precede or follow war or occur simultaneously. They are usually conducted as part of a joint or combined team. OOTW activities are described in FM 100-5, Operations, FM 100-19, Domestic Support Operations, and FM 100-23, Peace Operations (Draft). Operations in this environment present special leadership and personnel challenges, since the services of even small detachments can have operational or strategic importance. This may occur, for example, when a postal unit deploys to support civil affairs and is also employed to provide postal expertise to the host nation.

CONCLUSION

As the Army adjusts to the new world order, operations may dynamically grow and change. However, the tenets of Army operations and the sustainment characteristics are not transitory. They form the foundation of the personnel systems and doctrine. The personnel doctrine developed herein meets the challenges facing present and future personnel operations. It envisions the context in which personnel forces will operate, lays a track for the integration of new technologies, and optimizes all assets. This personnel doctrine will guide us to anticipate changes and make us agile and versatile enough to tailor personnel operations to each unique set of challenges that lies ahead.