Military Decision Making Process

The military decision-making process (MDMP) is an iterative planning methodology that integrates the activities of the commander, staff, subordinate headquarters, and other partners to understand the situation and mission, develop and compare courses of action (COA), decide on a COA that best accomplishes the mission, and produce an operation plan or order for execution. (MDMP Handbook, p. 7) According to the MDMP Handbook, “The MDMP facilitates collaborative and parallel planning as the higher headquarters solicits input and continuously shares information concerning future operations with subordinate and adjacent units, supporting and supported units, and other military and civilian partners through planning meetings, warning orders (WARNOs),
During the first step a warning order (WARNO) is issued from the S3 to the staff and subordinate units. The first step is to inform all individuals in an organization of forthcoming planning conditions. The first step contains 6 key tasks such as alert the staff, gather the tools, update running estimates, conduct initial assessment, issue the commander’s initial guidance, and issue the WARNO. The next step, and most important step, of the MDMP is mission analysis. Mission analysis is used to establish a clearer knowledge of the position and the conflict. Mission analysis is also used to pinpoint the goals of the command, time and location, and reason of the
Course of action analysis, otherwise known as war-gaming, focuses on the vision of the operation in reference to strengths and weaknesses of the force. It also focuses heavily on civilians and the capabilities of the enemy, possible media attacks, and modifications to the COAs. Commanders use the war game to observe actions, reaction, and counteractions of all parties involved. There are three war-gaming methods such as: belt, box, and avenue-in-depth. The most commonly preferred war-gaming method by commanders is the belt method. According to FM 6-0, Commander and Staff Organization and Operations (2011), “The belt method works best when conducting offensive and defensive tasks on terrain dived into well-defined cross-compartments, during phased operations or when the enemy is deployed in clearly defined belts or echelons” (p. 18). In theory, war-gaming provides the commander and staff an overall picture of the entire operation in a specific location that can be broken down into