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Doctrine provides military organizations with a common philosophy and language. It enhances unity of effort. FM 6-0 establishes and explains the Army's command and control (C2) doctrine principles.

FM 6-0 is the Army's key integrating manual for C2. It provides the basis for C2 doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures in all Army publications. It promotes common understanding of the fundamentals and concepts of C2 in Army operations, and supports joint and Army doctrine. It supercedes chapters 1 through 4, chapter 6, and appendixes G, I, K, and L of FM 101-5.

FM 6-0 provides doctrine on C2 for tactical Army echelons (corps and below). FM 6-0 establishes mission command as the C2 concept for the Army. It focuses on the premise that commanders exercise C2 over forces to accomplish missions. It emphasizes fundamentals and concepts rather than specific equipment or systems, although it discusses the role of equipment and systems in supporting C2. It includes insights from Force XXI initiatives and digitization. Supporting and extending leadership doctrine found in FM 22-100, it defines control within command and control, and covers decisionmaking during execution. FM 6-0 provides doctrine for information management, a contributor to information superiority. (See FM 3-13.) While intelligence is an information product essential in C2, the doctrine addressing information and information management is not intended to change or replace intelligence doctrine in the FM 2 (formerly FM 34) series of field manuals.

FM 6-0 applies to commanders of all Army organizations. However, it focuses on tactical commanders and leaders at corps-level and below. With appropriate modifications, it can apply to other Army commands and to Army elements of joint and multinational headquarters. It applies to digitized, analog, and hybrid (combination digitized/analog) units and organizations. The doctrine in FM 6-0 forms the foundation for Army Education System instruction in C2.

Headquarters, US Army Training and Doctrine Command is the proponent for this publication. The preparing agency is the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate, US Army Combined Arms Center. Send written comments and recommendations on DA Form 2028 (Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms) directly to: Commander, US Army Combined Arms Center and Fort Leavenworth, ATTN: ATZL-FD-CD (FM 6-0), 1 Reynolds Avenue (Building 111), Fort Leavenworth, KS 66027-1352. Send comments and recommendations by e-mail to web-cadd@leavenworth.army.mil. Follow the DA Form 2028 format or submit an electronic DA Form 2028.

The glossary contains referents of acronyms and definitions of terms not defined in JP 1-02 and FM 101-5-1 (1-02). It does not list acronyms and abbreviations that are included for clarity only and appear one time, nor those that appear only in a figure and are listed in the legend for that figure. Some common abbreviations and acronyms are not spelled out; refer to the glossary. Since ARFOR is a defined term as well as an acronym, it is not spelled out.

Terms that have joint or Army definitions are identified in both the glossary and the text. Glossary references: The glossary lists most terms used in FM 6-0 that have joint or Army definitions. Terms for which FM 6-0 is the proponent manual (the authority) are indicated with an asterisk. Text references: Definitions for which FM 6-0 is the proponent manual are printed in boldface in the text. These terms and their definitions will be incorporated into the next revision of FM 101-5-1 (1-02). For other definitions in the text, the term is italicized and the number of the proponent manual follows the definition.

Unless this publication states otherwise, masculine nouns and pronouns do not refer exclusively to men.

This publication contains copyrighted material.

The historical examples used in FM 6-0 were deliberately chosen to illustrate the fact that American tacticians should widen their areas of study of the military profession to include other armies and other times.

The copyright owners listed here have granted permission to reproduce material from their works. Other sources of quotations and material use in examples are listed in the Source Notes.

Quotations from On War, by Carl von Clausewitz, ed. and trans. Michael Howard and Peter Paret, copyright © 1976 by Princeton Univ. Press. All rights reserved.

Extract from The Challenge of Command, by Roger H. Nye, copyright © 1986 by Roger H. Nye. Used by permission of Avery Publishing, an imprint of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Used by permission.

Quotations from Defeat into Victory by William Slim, copyright © 1972 Aileen, Viscountess Slim. Used by permission of D. McKay.

Quotation from Panzer Battles: A Study of the Employment of Armor in the Second World War, by F.W., von Mellenthin, copyright © 1956 by the Univ. of Okahoma Press. Used by permission.