The Military-Tested Planning Tool All Business Leaders Need to Try

Thanks for sharing this awesome article!

I never learned the "Five-Paragraph Order" through a formal Air Force Education and Training program. However, with a deep understanding of the importance of military planning, I made an attempt to attend the Contingency Wartime Planning Course (CWPC) as a Technical Sergeant when I first retrained into the 1C3X1 (Command Post) Air Force Specialty Code. At the time, I was newly assigned to a planning billet in the 8th Air Force's 608th Combat Planning Squadron at Barksdale AFB, Louisiana. The sad part was that although the Air Operation Center (AOC) is the operations planning and execution hub for the Air Force Forces (AFFOR), and where centralized planning, direction, control, coordination and assessment of air operations is managed, we received minimal help from the Air Combat Command 1C3X1 Functional Manager to support the AOC's Command Post (CP) mission. I'm curious if 1C3's still being assigned to AOC's?

http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/124573/contingency-wartime-planning-course-prepares-airmen-for-duty.aspx

http://www.cadre.maxwell.af.mil/content/cwpc_dates.htm

https://www.studystack.com/flashcard-1615469

http://www.lexician.com/lexblog/2010/11/no-battle-plan-survives-contact-with-the-enemy/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wings_of_the_United_States_Air_Force


The Five-Paragraph Order: A Defender Challenge Story


The five-paragraph order was the 'meat and potatoes' of my Ground Combat Skill-sets Training in the 80's when I attended Platoon Confidence Training (PCT) as a 3P0X1 (Security Forces) supervisor. I was lucky enough to train with the 10th Special Forces Group (Airborne) at Bad Tölz, Germany in support of President Reagan's Ground Launch Cruise Missile (GLCM) deployment. Here's where I received my initial training on planning military operations using the five-paragraph order.

Subsequently, during this Cold-War period, I was also hand-picked by my SF Commander to participate as an Aggressor Squad Leader in Exercise CREEK WARRIOR 88' – the Red Forces portion of the annual NATO Exercise REFORGER 88'. During the pre-execution phase of the exercise, I'd received more extensive hands-on training in deploying the five-paragraph order for the purpose of simulating several Level I-III demonstrations and Russian Spetznaz attacks against U.S. military bases in Germany to test SF riot control and counterinsurgency reactions.

The five-paragraph order was also instrumental in my SF Squad from Wueschheim Air Station, Germany winning the gold in the United States Air Forces Europe (USAFE) Peacekeeper Challenge Competition 88' – the precursor to today's SF Defender Challenge Competition. Here's the story: It's the last day of in-garrison training and time for me to report my team selection to the SF Commander who would accompany me on TDY to Ramstein Air Base to represent the 38th Tactical Missile Wing (38 TMW). I'd whittled the candidates down to the final eight that tried out for the team. We'd all bonded having trained together for the past few months in fire team and squad tactics, and planning using the 'Military-Test Planning Tool All Business Leaders Need to Try' – the five-paragraph order. I didn't realize it at the time but this planning tool would prove to be the 'winning factor' in winning the gold.  

The initial ground rules set by USAFE was for each wing to select up to two fire teams to participate but my SF Commander asked me to select only one 4-man fire team. However, since we were in the process of drawing GLCM-deployment operations after having received a Presidential mandate, I requested permission instead, and at the eleventh hour, to take two fire teams, especially – as I explained my SF Commander – since the tryout scores were too close not to create the appearance of favoritism as my fellow-Staff Sergeant and homeboy from Alabama, James "Pee-Wee' Martin was an obvious shoo-in as my assistant fire team leader. That left two more members for me to select and an alternate member while cutting the other three remaining candidates. That never happened.  

Instead, my SF Commander approved my request to take two fire teams, which inspired me to have Pee-wee pick any three SF members he wanted to form his own fire team. And I teamed up with the remaining three SF members to form a second fire team. The way I figured, if Pee-wee and I competed against each other, we'd double our chances of winning the gold for the 38 TMW.

Competition day arrived and as soon as my fire team met at the designated rally point to receive the mission brief, an Exercise Observer/Controller informs me that I've been killed off. My initial reaction was to dispute the kill because my Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) gear had not alarmed to indicate a kill. That's when I realized, the exercise was designed to test our succession plan for Continuity Of Operations Plan (COOP).

German military strategist Helmuth von Moltke wisely noted, "No plan survives contact with the enemy." Scheisse! I never even got to see the enemy during this competition, but my team certainly did. Would you believe that out nine USAFE wings that participated that year, my team took overall first place and Pee-wee's team took second? That's when I realized the real benefit of the five-paragraph order: its utility in making sure that everyone down to the last airman can successfully achieve the mission – regardless of who's in charge.

In conclusion, what I found surprisingly ubiquitous is that after I'd retrained years later out of SF and into the Command Post, every military OPLAN (Operations Plan) that I dutifully reviewed, whether in AF or Joint Service CP-environments, were uniformly formatted in the five-paragraph ordered format. Needless to say, I still use the format religiously to execute business and personal activities – and I take personal interest when someone shares a story about how they used the five-paragraph order to make a plan come together!