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TIC TOCs: Tactical Operation Centers
that Run Like Clockwork

by CPT Roger M. Bober

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Forward Support Battalion TOCs that understand the following functions and execute accordingly tend to have greater success at CMTC than those that ignore them. Support battalions cannot afford to waste resources. They must get the full value from the effort they invest in any task. What follows concerns making the most of the resources on hand. High-speed TOCs do the following things well:

PERSONNEL

Prioritize work and commit resources to base defense tasks accordingly. Battalions which chase all the rabbits, catch none. Support battalions have two conflicting missions: they must conduct the base defense as well as conduct the support mission. Resources devoted to one detract from accomplishing the other. Both missions must succeed or the brigade mission fails. Pursuing conflicting demands prevents completion of any task. Battalions that set and follow priorities, even bad ones, eventually complete at least some portion of the base defense. The battalion commander must resolve tradeoffs.

Establish systems that provide the most security for the resources invested in time, personnel and equipment. The battalion must build as much of the base defense as possible during the first 24 hours after arrival. Subsequent increases in support missions dramatically reduce the number of soldiers available to work on the defense.

Develop mechanisms to track the progress of work. Tracking work in progress allows the S3 to adjust resource commitments and assess the BSA vulnerabilities. The S3 can provide the battalion commander with a risk assessment from an accurate assessment of work progress. Thorough and accurate information is the key.

Assign work and battle stations to each person working in the TOC. Direct threats to the BSA define whether soldiers stay at their work station or go to their battle stations. In some cases, the location may be the same; for example, an RTO in the TOC. On the other hand, in a direct fire emergency, some soldiers who work in the TOC might take up fighting positions outside the TOC. Likewise, the Support Operations Officer (SPO) works in the support operations section during normal missions, but transfers his operations and capabilities to the alternate TOC for battle stations. Every soldier must know where to go and what to do.

Ensure that each member of the TOC has a dug-in fighting position in the event of artillery or aerial attack. A berm or sandbag wall around the TOC affords protection to TOC workers. Conduct drills to ensure that soldiers know their positions and what they are supposed to do. Stand-to is an excellent opportunity to check that each soldier knows his position and responsibility.

Assign roles and responsibilities to each person in the TOC. Effective command quickly erodes when the workers in the TOC, from battalion commander to RTO, do not know their jobs, do not execute their jobs, or poach on someone else's job. High-speed TOCs make sure they do the following: Identify one person in charge to receive reports and direct the battalion. Units that violate unity of command discover that their soldiers take direction from a variety of sources including the battle captain, XO, SPO and battalion commander.

RESULTS:

1. Soldiers wait around for the real deal before taking any action.
2. Initiative disappears.

The authority of the battalion commander must rest with a clearly defined chain of command inside and outside the TOC. Everyone must know who is in charge at all times. Identify a watch dog to ensure:

• RTOs pass reports and document resulting in follow-through actions. In the heat of action, messages wind up buried in a stack of paper. An extra set of eyes and ears increases the probability of a piece of critical information getting to the right leader. The adage, "If you cannot talk, you cannot play," applies to message traffic inside the TOC.

• Monitor the resulting actions derived from reports. Unit logs should identify a POC who will complete an action; watch dogs stay on top of this.

• Resolve log jams. When work piles up with one person, the watch dog can parcel tasks out to other personnel to maintain timely action.

• Look for ways to make the TOC more efficient. Soldiers focused on their jobs cannot easily perceive how all the pieces fit together. The watch dog will notice the system and communication breakdowns that the TOC can fix as time permits.

• Train soldiers in their tasks and cross-train in other TOC tasks. Soldiers should stay in their own lanes, but have enough skills to:

  • Work another position if necessary.

  • Understand the other jobs so they can anticipate requirements and provide relevant information.

Make efficient use of all personnel. Neither machines nor standing operating procedures can replace motivated soldiers. Dedicated and motivated soldiers find ways of making the most difficult machines and incomprehensible SOPs work. On the other hand, the best of machines and clearest SOPs will not produce if the soldiers do not care and the leaders cannot motivate them. Leaders transcend professional commitment (the 80-percent solution) and get the full measure (110 percent) of their soldiers' confidence and dedication when they put soldiers in jobs they love, jobs that hold their interest.

• Effective TOC leaders determine the strengths and interests of their soldiers. Then they find a job that exploits those very strengths and interests. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is one method to determine fundamental characteristics of soldiers. Most leaders have experienced the MBTI. But its application to the Army work environment eludes many leaders, because they do not see the connection between the MBTI and specific jobs in the TOC.

• Leaders can use their observation skills to determine what motivates a soldier. The most effective leaders carefully observe soldiers, pay attention to their interests, and consciously match the interests of the soldier with the demands of the job. When soldiers who love to turn wrenches are turning wrenches, the unit gets the biggest bang from its training buck, even if the MOS of that wrench turner is clerk-typist.

Make sure the S2, S3, Chemical Officer/NCO and SPO talk to each other. Staffs that do not share information either duplicate work or suffer vulnerabilities in their plan due to the missing information. Effective TOCs share information, especially the intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB) and how it affects the base defense and CSS missions. The chemical officer or NCO must exchange information to conduct chemical IPB and add this data to the S3 base defense estimate.

Use the night shift to support mission completion. Battle rhythm usually splits the day into two shifts. The senior leaders surge during anticipated high TEMPO periods (often during daylight). Based on the mission, the soldiers who work during the lower TEMPO periods (often night) can deliver products that the day shift has no time to produce. Less successful units use a minimal or no night shift, nor require products from it. Successful TOCs make every minute of the day count by taking advantage of the talent on the night shift to accomplish tasks. Staff the night shift with well-trained, quality soldiers and do not regard them as the second team. The night shift duties should include:

• Plan or analyze future operations.

• Execute:

  • Administrative paperwork.

  • Overlays.

  • Printing.

  • Orders completion.

Execute a sleep plan. Sleep deprivation not only inhibits one's ability to perform, it also limits the ability to assess one's own performance. Sleep-deprived leaders work at a snail's pace although they perceive that they are performing fairly normally. Thinking functions degrade first. Yet it is the leaders, upon whom the battalion depends to make decisions, that are the least likely to get adequate rest. To adequately perform their functions, leaders must enforce a plan to get sufficient rest, especially on themselves. Seniors must train and trust their subordinates to perform in their place.

TRAINING

Know the purpose of the TOC. The purpose of the TOC is to ensure that the commander can make timely decisions, fight the battle and execute the CSS mission. A good staff prevents or reduces distractions to commanders. A TOC METL might look like this:

• Receive information and reports.

• Process and analyze information.

• Brief commanders and decisionmakers.

• Produce and transmit orders.

Proficiency in these tasks frees subordinate elements to execute their missions with the minimum of confusion.

Clutter and personnel that don't directly contribute to the TOC's mission must move elsewhere. Battletracking produces enough challenges. TOCs cannot afford the luxury of additional baggage.

Approach problems in a systematic fashion. Strive to combine the various pieces of information to form a rational picture of the battlefield. Without methods to integrate diverse data, there is a possibility that the staff will overlook relevant information. This will produce the wrong read for the commander. Units that make the following techniques habitual will paint a more thorough picture and arrive at better conclusions:

• Train, practice and use a decisionmaking process. Failure to follow a rational decisionmaking process allows the possibility of gaps in the analysis and consequent vulnerabilities on the ground. Critical decisionmaking tasks include:

  • Commander's intent.

  • S2, S3, S4 estimates.

  • Supervision (what's the standard, who will check and when)?

• Use a synchronization matrix to cover all the bases. Synch matrices that identify all elements of the task organization let planners use the capabilities of all the assets available to them. It allows them to ask the question "What is this unit doing now?"

• Think through problems before taking action. Working through the requirements of plan, prepare, execute, and recovery for missions prevents units from having to address emergencies created by incompletely planned missions.

• Seniors listen to subordinate input. Successful leaders take the suggestions of their subordinates seriously. Subordinates add additional angles to missions that the boss may have overlooked. This encourages continued involvement in mission development by subordinates. So even if the boss does not follow the current recommendation, juniors may have the solution next time. Genuine listening also encourages initiative without which the battalion cannot function, especially at the NCO level.

• The TOC is not a one-soldier show. If the TOC loses one person, then the second in charge must have equal skills to the first. This holds for all positions. There are too many moving pieces in a support battalion for one person to totally control. There are too many tasks to have soldiers waiting for permission to do them. The battalion cannot afford the paralysis derived from waiting for the one person to make all decisions, "because he will just change it anyway." Successful units encourage individual initiative, tolerate the inevitable mistakes, but provide guidance for future success.

• Develop good staff habits before the unit arrives in the field. This takes training to learn procedures and practice to appreciate the impact of individual leaders.

Speak with the authority of the commander to subordinate units. To coordinate the defense of the entire BSA, the TOC must control all subordinate and tenant units. Tenant units have to integrate with the overall base defense plan. Base defense will suffer if each tenant ignores the unity of command provided by the support battalion's S3. The support battalion commander must vest his authority in the TOC to enforce compliance, resolve resource conflicts, and ultimately carry out the fight.

Track all critical battalion assets. The TOC must disseminate to higher and lower what is going on in the BSA area. Units that do not track the location of subordinate elements lose them. Leaders at all levels become concerned when units call fire onto locations in friendly territory. Confirming BSA assets aren't there adds confidence to rear-area fighters. Use map icons for each of the following:

• CSS elements on the battlefield. Include convoy times SP, CPs, and RP. Maintenance recovery teams will have a last known location for breakdowns. The S3 will have as some idea of their location if communications fail.

• Base defense elements:

  • Quick reaction force. Establish measures to control movement and fires for internal elements responding to BSA threats.

  • Military police. Set checkpoint references in the BSA area of operations to aid accurate reporting.

  • Other patrols, CA/PSYOP, and liaison teams. Deconflict SALUTE reports from stationary positions.

  • Enemy penetrations into the BSA area of interest. Map icons give a quick, visual picture of enemy locations. The reaction forces gain time using a map brief.

Talk to and monitor forward, rear and adjacent units. An out-of-touch battalion is out of the fight. This is also a good source of intelligence, critical to vulnerability analysis and enemy templating. The battalion can track the development of enemy actions and friendly responses.

Keep good records. The unit log is the history of the battalion and, as such, should be a useful tool. It also serves as critical continuity between shifts. A complete record complements a solid shift change brief. Otherwise, filling it out is more wasted effort. Use the ACTION TAKEN section of the log to point to a POC or record the resolution of actions. Do not use "logged" here; it adds nothing and takes time for busy RTOs. Maintain a data base of all BSA activity, civilian and threat. Sorting by subjects, times, and locations easily identifies possible trends.

EQUIPMENT

Exploit the best potential of all base defense assets. Units must:

• Know which assets are available for the operation.

• Bring them to the field. Check load plans and conduct loadout exercises.

• Train to use all its equipment. Develop drills to put equipment into operation. Use field training exercises to decrease setup times.

• Track and check the status of the assets during the operation to keep them:

  • Operational.

  • Exploited to their maximum potential.

WORKSPACE

Avoid personnel, noise, and equipment clutter. Avoid the lost critical message at the bottom of a pile of papers. Keep the TOC simple and neat. Strictly control access to the TOC. Set up meeting areas away from TOC operations.

• Set up maps and RTOs near radios.

• Make sufficient room to work. Space is a premium resource inside the TOC.

• Ensure battle trackers do not have to cross the TOC to read the map and may do so while listening to the radio.

• Prepare tracking tools before the action. Making icons, charts, tracking and briefing materials during the battle puts soldiers at risk of missing information coming into the TOC.

• Keep non-essential personnel out of the TOC. This includes drivers, and other off-shift soldiers unless they have specific jobs.

Efficient TOCs, TOCs that run like clockwork, know that they must carefully manage personnel, time, workspace and equipment resources. Making the most of what they have takes determined leadership, discipline, commitment and training.

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