TRAINING & EDUCATION

Developing a Common Operational

Picture for Sustainment
 By Maj. Aaron M. Cornett and Maj. Justin M. Redfern

T
he Mission Command Train- How Does Time Affect the COP? For a sustainment brigade, the de-
ing Program based at Fort To be effective, a sustainment COP piction should be more focused and
Leavenworth, Kansas, is the must focus on efforts and commod- pay special attention to the sustain-
Army’s only worldwide deployable ities over time. A unit commander ment forces within the division AO,
combat training center. Its Operations requires time to make decisions and including nondivisional units in the
Group Sierra provides observer-coach deliver support or commodities to the division support area.
trainers to instruct expeditionary sus- end user. For an ESC, lead times typi- Once sustainment elements are
tainment commands (ESCs) and sus- cally range from 96 to 120 hours, while identified, operation orders should
tainment brigades during warfighter sustainment brigades require 48 to 96 provide criteria such as stockage ob-
exercises. hours to get supplies to customers. jectives or daily requirements in order
During a warfighter exercise, the A way to decipher the time factor on to assess the capabilities and critical
decisive action training environment a COP is to map the time it takes for commodities employed or distributed
replicates phase III of joint operations a commodity or service to travel from through the AO. This assessment can
against a near-peer competitor. The start to finish. This time starts prior to be color-coded. If colors are used, it is
sustainment community’s challenge is the commodity entering the theater of important to provide a clear definition
to sustain the other warfighting func- operations, continues as it transits the of what each color represents.
tions throughout the operation by in- supply chain, and concludes with its A staff ’s understanding of how the
creasing operational reach, providing delivery to the end user. commander visualizes information
freedom of action, and prolonging Essentially, a commander and staff can go a long way in making the sus-
endurance. must understand how long it will take tainment COP effective. If there is
A sustainment common operational to influence operations. Is the ESC not enough information to make in-
picture (COP) provides a clear picture or sustainment brigade able to deliv- clusive and relevant assessments, the
of the sustainment situation at any er a commodity or service in time to sustainment community in theater
given time and is critical to increasing maintain momentum or extend oper- should establish internal measure-
operational reach, freedom of action, ational reach? Is the lead time associ- ments. These measurements should be
and prolonged endurance. Over the ated with a particular commodity or communicated and nested in opera-
course of several warfighter exercises, service going to slow the pace of oper- tion orders to help inform the com-
Operations Group Sierra identified ations? If the sustainment commander mander and enable timely decisions.
that developing a sustainment COP is and staff understand that time factor, This visual representation should be
a common challenge. they can more easily plan and manage the baseline from which the rest of the
expectations. COP is built and can be based on the
What Is a Sustainment COP? output from the intelligence function-
The sustainment COP is how sus- Identify Sustainment Elements al cell during mission analysis.
tainment forces visualize and assess The first criterion for a relevant The second criterion for developing
the effects of sustainment on the bat- COP is a terrain-oriented visual de- a sustainment COP is depicting oper-
tlefield. The sustainment COP also piction of sustainment entities in the ations in the AO that affect sustain-
provides context that commanders area of operations (AO). Important ment operations. Sustainment units
can use to describe and direct future red (enemy) and blue (friendly) activ- cannot just focus on sustainment
operations. ities also should be depicted. For an without regard for maneuver force or
The sustainment COP synchroniz- ESC, the sustainment COP should enemy force activities.
es requirements with capabilities over include regional hubs and distribution Activities that influence sustain-
time and provides a single framework nodes such as logistics support areas, ment and sustainment staffs must be
that represents the current situation. It central receiving and shipping point depicted on the sustainment COP
is used to identify future gaps, short- yards, and aerial ports and seaports of to show the commander how both
falls, or excess capacity within the sus- debarkation across the AO, with spe- friendly and enemy activities affect or
tainment network. cial focus on the joint support area. could possibly affect sustainment. It

52 January–February 2018 Army Sustainment

is also important for the sustainment Detailed commodity-specific COPs tribution plans.
COP to clearly show lines of commu- provide the background information †† Internal and external combat pow-
nication, such as main and alternate to round out the much broader and er (the combat slant).
supply routes, as well as supported less detailed sustainment COP. When †† Medical nodes, locations, capacity,
unit boundaries. the commander has a question about and bed status.
The third criterion revolves around specifics not displayed on the sustain-
the sustainment headquarters support ment COP, his or her staff should ref- While Operations Group Sierra
operations section’s commodities. The erence the commodity COPs in order considers these five areas the most
data provided by each commodity to find a detailed answer. critical to a sustainment COP, the
section informs decision-making and team acknowledges that each organi-
problem-solving. Five Sustainment COP Essentials zation must decide what information
Most of this data will be kept in- Operations Group Sierra has iden- is most important and what informa-
ternal to each section. It is impossible tified five areas that should be repre- tion the commander needs to make
for a single sustainment COP to show sented in every sustainment COP: effective decisions.
every piece of information from every Additionally, the S-4s and G-4
commodity. Therefore, it is imperative †† Key and essential movements in should provide a combat slant that ex-
that the sections responsible for each the first 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours. plains what the sustainment brigade’s
commodity develop their own COPs †† Bulk fuel nodes and distribution functional companies can accomplish
or running estimates to complement plans. with the combat power they have. This
the overall sustainment COP. †† Critical munitions status and dis- additional information helps to paint

CURRENT OPERATIONS
PLANS FUTURE OPERATIONS Short-range Planning
Long-range Planning Mid-range Planning and Execution
Plan movement and maneuver. Lead support operations distribution, Lead movement and maneuver.
plans, and integration.
Includes representatives from all Includes representatives from all Includes representatives from all
warfighting function cells and special warfighting function cells and special staff warfighting function cells and special
staff as mission dictates. as mission dictates. staff as mission dictates.
†† Develops initial operation †† Refines and modifies OPLANs and †† Monitors, evaluates, directs, and
plans (OPLANs) and opera- OPORDs, and issues fragmentary controls execution of orders.
tion orders (OPORDs). orders (FRAGORDs). †† Provides operations update
†† Plans for follow-on sequels. †† Develops branch plans. and assessment brief.
†† Assesses long-range progress of †† Assesses mid-range progress of
operations. operations.
Examples: Intermediate staging base Examples: Convoy planning, central Examples: Monitor convoys and
operations, deployment, and new site receiving and shipping point operations, battlespace management
and task organization modifications
“What next?” “What if?” “What is.”

OPLAN,
OPLAN, OPORD,
OPORD,
OPORD Transition Transition FRAGORD Execution
FRAGORD

*Months-Weeks *Months-Days *Days-Hours

Figure 1. This flowchart demonstrates how time horizons for the operations process vary depending on the level of command
and mission variables.

Army Sustainment January–February 2018 53

TRAINING & EDUCATION

a clear picture for the commander.

Other information that may prove
critical in certain circumstances in-
cludes class I (subsistence) nodes and
distribution plans, mortuary affairs
and replacement movements, and in-
formation relating to the fielding and
distribution of critical class VII (ma-
jor end items).
Future activities, such as the transi-
tion of unit boundaries or the estab-
lishment of logistics support areas,
require additional planning and
should have space allocated on the
sustainment COP. It is important for
the commander to see what is on the
horizon in order to understand how
current operations will affect future
plans. A small block that shows a slid-
ing scale of current planning efforts
and their level of completion can help
to create much needed dialogue be-
tween the commander and staff.

An Analog Sustainment COP

The 21st century Army greatly
benefits from technology and digital
advances. The ability to produce and
share information electronically has Sgt. 1st Class Joseph Samuel Massey points to a map during Saber Guardian 17
significantly improved shared under- at Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. (Photo by Spc. Rafael Garibay)
standing during operations. Of course,
too much reliance on technology can any given time. It also enhances the zations to develop shared understand-
be a downfall when a system fails or ability of sustainment organizations ing, solve problems, and synchronize
power is lost. to increase operational reach, provide sustainment operations.
Using analog products to back-up freedom of action, and prolong the _______________________________
digital products is absolutely critical endurance of maneuver forces.
to the continued success of a sus- High functioning staffs create a Maj. Aaron M. Cornett is an instruc-
tainment organization in the event sustainment COP by including simi- tor in the Department of Logistics and
a system goes down. When it comes lar internal and external sight pictures, Resource Operations at the U.S. Army
to the sustainment COP, sustainment a snapshot of critical commodities Command and General Staff College. He
organizations should develop an an- nested with current and future oper- is a former sustainment observer-coach
alog product that mirrors the digital ations, and transitions. By integrating trainer with Operations Group Sierra. He
product. all warfighting functions, the staff also holds a master’s degree in journalism
A large scale map with acetate works includes the priorities of support and from the University of Kansas.
incredibly well and allows graphics the decision support matrix.
and other information to be updated A standard operating procedure Maj. Justin M. Redfern is the chief of
regularly. If the analog product is up- that sets the conditions for these mis- the Integration Division of the Combat
dated regularly and mirrors the digi- sion command tools sets a staff on the Training Center Directorate at Fort Leav-
tal product, then the commander will right path to meeting intent at the enworth, Kansas. He is a former sustain-
not struggle to see the environment or speed of trust. ment observer-coach trainer with Oper-
make decisions in the event of a sys- Great units are able to use all of the ations Group Sierra. He holds a master’s
tem failure. information in the COP to anticipate degree in global supply chain manage-
requirements, remain responsive, and ment from the University of Kansas.
The sustainment COP provides provide uninterrupted sustainment.
sustainment commanders with a clear In essence, the sustainment COP is Lt. Col. Erik Hilberg and Stanford
picture of the sustainment situation at the best way for sustainment organi- Locher contributed to this article.

54 January–February 2018 Army Sustainment