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The Nested Rehearsal

This article explains the basic concept of the nested rehearsal technique, and how it can enhance the amount of time battery commanders and their noncommissioned officers spend on rehearsing the actual battle plan.

Although the basic concept of the nested rehearsal has been introduced at the NTC at the brigade level, this article will also introduce its premise specifically at the field artillery battalion and battery levels. In fact, it will explain how the nested rehearsal concept will enhance the role of the platoon sergeant and his section chiefs in the preparation of the battery to accomplish its essential field artillery task (EFAT)/EFATs for the brigade.

NTC trends indicate that the result of units who do not conduct proper rehearsals is units that do not meet their directed EFAT. These failures can be directly attributed to the improper use and/or allocation of time during the early stages of the orders process.

"The purpose of the nested rehearsal is to achieve a common relevant picture of the unit mission in the light of mission, enemy, terrain, troops, and time available, refined from the bottom up through each echelon of command," said the NTC commander.

The nested rehearsal can be defined as the gathering or consolidation of directed rehearsals that are mission-specific in the absence of a specific operations plan. Instead of waiting for the 80-percent solution, the nested rehearsal ensures that the wheels of motion are in place as the WARNO is being given to the respective battalion commanders and their staffs.

The goals of the nested rehearsal:

• To ensure all types and echelons of rehearsals are prioritized.
• To ensure all rehearsals are fully time-resourced.
• To ensure leader involvement in subordinate rehearsal processes.
• To provide for command-driven bottom-up refinement of all combined arms plans.
• To prevent procrastination of rehearsals processes until final refinement of tactical plans.

"The idea behind the nested rehearsal is to manage the brigade's timeline to ensure its subordinate units can conduct rehearsals. This allows a unit to rehearse early on and make any changes to the plan before they commit themselves to a plan which will not succeed," said the commander.

There are some requirements which must be accomplished prior to implementing the nested rehearsal concept. These requirements for the field artillery battalion and/or battery are:

• A revision of the battalion battle book to include detailed battery rehearsals and battle drills.
• Mission-specific pre-combat checks (PCCs) and pre-combat inspections (PCIs).

The above will ensure that the battalion can easily direct rehearsals based on the type of mission which will, in turn, allow the battery leadership to conduct rehearsals immediately after the initial WARNO.

The purpose of the detailed battle drill standing operating procedures (SOPs):

• To ensure participants understand techniques or procedures.
• To allow leadership to select drills based on anticipated missions.
• To set standards which identify weaknesses.
• To validate unit SOPs.

The standardization of the battle drill will ensure that all leaders throughout the unit will understand what type of rehearsals are expected at critical phases of the planning process.

To explain the concept of the nested rehearsal, first we must set a few ground rules:

• Higher rehearsals occur last in the timeline.
• Lowest level (platoon/section) drills occur first and as soon as possible.
• All orders and rehearsals date/time groups (DTGs) are directed by the next higher headquarters.
• Same-echelon rehearsals are staggered to allow higher attendance.
• Leaders and deputies attend all subordinate echelon combined arms rehearsals.

THE PROCESS

PHASE ONE: The BCT's WARNO directs the following:

• The nature of the mission.
• The DTG of the BCT operations order (OPORD).
• The tentative combined arms rehearsal for the BCT.
• The BN/TF (in the case, FA BN) OPORD no later than times.

PHASE TWO: The FA BN conducts simultaneous operations based on the following graph:

Concurrently, the FA BN will confirm the following information to the BCT at the BCT's OPORD:

• Times and locations of the FA BN-directed rehearsals.
• Times and locations for the FA BN support rehearsals.

The BCT establishes who will attend the FA BN/fire support rehearsals, and more importantly, with the above timeline, spells out to the battery commanders the basic requirements for all drills, rehearsals, and expected times for his attendance during the critical phases of the planning. This type of detailed information will enhance the amount of time the commander will have to access his battery's ability to accomplish his assigned EFAT/EFATs.

PHASE THREE: The Charlie Battery Commander (BC) breaks his timeline in this manner:

Although in this case, Charlie Battery higher headquarters directed the type of rehearsals, it is the Charlie Battery Commander who must establish a realistic timeline to facilitate the backward planning needed to ensure the success of the battalion's timeline and preparation phases of operation. The BC must, therefore, conduct his own mission analysis and course of action to ensure that his battery can accomplish its assigned EFAT. This will allow the BC to address the two-fold problems of what must be accomplished at the directed rehearsal and give mission-oriented guidance to allow his subordinates to focus and prioritize.

PHASE FOUR: Mission-oriented guidance to subordinates.

The strength of the nested rehearsal lies in its ability to allow rehearsals at the lowest level to be conducted early on and to allow sufficient time to change any identified problems. What does this mean to the platoon leader and platoon sergeant? It means these leaders must be committed to the general principles of a rehearsal which include:

• Prioritizing tasks or events.
• Determining key participants and their role.
• Tying the battery mission to the battalion and/or brigade's intent.
• Facilitating the development of a stronger and more detailed SOP.
• Providing feedback to the commanders.

Providing feedback to the commander about the plan or perceived plan can only be accomplished if these junior leaders are prepared to conduct the rehearsals at the intended time. The very presence of the BC at the battery rehearsals demonstrates, finally, that time is the most precious commodity we have on the battlefield.

The nested rehearsal also defines the role of the platoon leader/sergeant as the new standard bearers for all rehearsals conducted at the platoon level. It requires all leaders to commit to the following at all levels:

• Discipline of preparation.
• Ruthless time management.
• Battlefield circulation of the commander and his staff.
• Motivating confidence in the training value of the original plan.

It also allows more predictability down to the section level for their own timeline to allow soldiers time to eat, sleep, and perform personal hygiene. These everyday tasks are essential to soldier morale, but are often not accomplished because of the battalion's inability to send the entire plan to the batteries at a given time. The section chief will also understand his requirements for the entire day because of the BC's timeline given early in the planning process. With the nested rehearsal concept, early-on PMCS is given priority early on. This will enhance by its very nature to complete the PMCS early on so that it will not effect the battery in the later stages of the planning process.

CONCLUSION: Recommend we commit ourselves to the concept of the nested rehearsal and the development of the battalion battle drill book to ensure that we have set standards for all rehearsals based on specific missions and their requirements. This concept works and it has enjoyed a great deal of success.

The book about General Fred Franks, Into the Storm, written by Tom Clancy, states how his units conducted nested rehearsals based on their pending deployment to the Gulf in 1991.

During the Advance Warfighting Experiment conducted at the NTC, the commander had his units conduct nested rehearsals prior to their fights with the OPFOR soldiers of the 11th Cavalry Regiment.

This concept will allow for soldiers at the lowest level to affect not only the plan but also the execution of that plan because their commanders will be allowed to see first-hand how they (the platoon leaders/sergeants) will accomplish their assigned EFATs based on their rehearsals.

Early Warning at the Task-Force (TF) Level

Acknowledgements