Intellectual Laziness about Warfighting

Focus is hard to achieve. The right amount of detail is somewhere between a 100 page OPORD and the 1-page CONOP. As a leader, you need to encourage a level of rigor on the part of your subordinates or staff officers proportional to the risk. If you're planning an exercise in a low risk environment, then the OPORD can and should be pretty brief. It should allow room for commander's on the ground/sea/air to innovate and instruct in TTP. However if you're planning an OP into a high risk environment, you need to press your subordinates to apply careful consideration of all aspects of the problem within the time available. Mitigation of risk should be undertaken in every area in which it can be accomplished. Get the logistics and comms right, so the front line commanders, flight leads, and aircrew can focus on the intel and operation, for example. The one-page CONOP or OPORD only works if it's built on a broader foundation of support allowing that level of planning for an operation of well defined scope and duration. I could brief a jumpmaster off a 1-page guide in my checklist. It told him or her everything they needed to know about the airdrop operation. The actual formation airdrop briefing with all the aircrews and support organizations was much more detailed and took about 15 to 30 minutes. The longer, well planned air drop briefing allowed the shorter jumpmaster briefing to be effective.

You can first start by taking your hand out of your damn pocket.