Campaign plans are the operational extension of the commander’s strategy.
Campaigning is the purposeful, unified endeavor to achieve strategic objectives. The combatant command campaign plan is a high-level plan that combatant commanders use to unify the efforts of the service components and staff directorates. The planner’s job is to simplify problems, forge a sound path through volatile and complex environments, and provide a clear decision-making framework to guide the command through the friction and fog of war.
Developing a Combatant Command Campaign Plan: Lessons Learned at US Central Command - Modern War Institute (usma.edu)
“Few things are more frustrating for new planners than realizing what is taught at the schoolhouse does not translate smoothly in their first assignments (usma.edu).”
To campaign effectively, the command must do three things.
- Write a clear, coherent plan that is specific enough to give subordinate components a good idea of what they must do to help the command achieve its objectives.
- Deliberately execute and manage the campaign to ensure that tasks are being accomplished and synchronized.
- Honestly assess the plan to determine what’s working and what isn’t. If executed with purpose, these three steps will generate unity of effort and momentum for the command's desired conditions.
Recently U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) worked with JKO to develop two training courses on this important subject of campaign planning.
These courses build on doctrinal foundations to accelerate the development of planning skills in operational and strategic planners.
An overview of campaigning and an immersive look at USSPACECOM's approach to campaign planning. The course is intended for officers, government civilians, and contractors joining Headquarters USSPACECOM who may have little to no experience in developing operational or strategic plans or orders.
Enhances the planner’s ability to produce polished plans that are intuitive, sound, and easily executable by subordinates. Military plans can be overly complex, ambiguous, or incoherent; and simply following a doctrinal template for plan development or adhering to the Joint Planning Process (JPP) is not a guarantee that a plan will be effective and actionable. The Advanced Planning Concepts course is intended to advise planners of common pitfalls in plan development and give them advanced techniques that allow them to more effectively apply the JPP.