When writing a five-paragraph order which of the following acronyms are most helpful to remember when developing?

“As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind.  Every part of this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder.”     

                                                     John Glenn, Marine fighter pilot,                                                                        Former astronaut & US Senator (Ohio)

SMEAC is Project Leadership

For over two generations, the U.S. Marine Corps and the Army “Five Paragraph Order” (FPO) has been a mainstay of officer and NCO training.  Leadership is taught in the service branches, religiously and rigidly, and from that environment leaders are made and skill in managing processes is practiced. 

All projects are led, not managed.  You manage your checkbook.  You lead your team.  In project leadership, whether reorganizing an office wide filing system or introducing a competitive product in a new market, how effective the project will be comes down to one word:  planning.

The Marine Corps is especially proud of the FPO.  It exemplifies deliberate and effective project planning.  No officer or NCO of value would attempt to gather support without the FPO, or “SMEAC”, and a capacity to communicate the plan succinctly and fully.

SMEAC, of course, is an acronym.  Yes, the military has practically invented acronyms, but this one has a serious utility, and is universally acknowledged in the Corps and the Army.  SMEAC is used in both large and small unit operations, and engenders a certain expectation from all personnel in the unit, which is enormously helpful in communications.  If an element of SMEAC is missing, the last-person-on-the-left will know it and can sound off.

There are several beauties to the traditional military SMEAC.  It is predominately oral, which focuses attention and forces simplicity.  Listening skills are crucial.  As mentioned earlier, SMEAC can run the gamut from the routine to the calamity.

SITUATION

MISSION

EXECUTION

ADMIN & LOGISTICS

COMMAND & CONTROL

(What follows are three parallel examples of each:

1. Military application, 2. General office, and 3. Virtual business.)

 SITUATION

1. Military: Enemy strength, disposition, capabilities and priorities.
2. General office: Landlord will replace all carpet over two weekends and file cabinets and desks must be empty.
3. Virtual: New barcode label system for national vendor rollout, and must be seamless to customers.

The situation will always be the predicate for a good action plan.  Knowing the obstacles and challenges reduces unnecessary contingency planning, and sharpens the focus.  All projects have both predictable and unforeseen resistance factors and knowing these problems helps to clarify the situation.

      MISSION

1. Military: Who, What, When, Where & Why we must engage the enemy and take that hill.
2. General office: Provide time and material during work day to organize and empty file cabinets and not disrupt service and allow for a safe work environment.
3. Virtual: Turn over system with internal and external vendors and customers at the appointed times.

The Mission is the briefest element.  Often the best mission plan starts with the end in mind… what is the goal we must achieve?  Once this is envisioned, plan backward accordingly.  There will most likely be several intermediate objectives prior to securing the hill, and each of these may beg for its own FPO.  Once the goal is clear, everyone understands his or her role in the mission execution vividly.

             EXECUTION

1. Military: Attack plan, operating instructions, overall intent, and specific assignments in support of the mission.
2. General office: Each employee has a defined area to pack up and must follow a proscribed schedule so service is not disrupted.
3. Virtual: At scheduled time(s) systems will go “live” and sister networks will be prepared to absorb stray consequences.

The Execution is the lengthiest part of the FPO.  Every detail of “how” must be examined and clarified.  In small groups, the give and take is most effective at this time, and should be encouraged, once discipline (behavior) rules are understood.  Chances are good the team members may have a better idea to smooth the process, but allow the necessity of mid-stream questions for key points only.

            An amusing aside here.  You know your team.  A SMEAC review can turn into a Three Stooges pie fight if you let certain personalities take over.

            “Mr. Irrelevant” always brings up weird stuff so minor and stupid you want to throw yourself out a window.  Please don’t. Be direct and say, “Not now, please,” or “We’ll discuss it later.”

            “Madame Know-it-All” consistently tells you what’s wrong with the plan without knowing the whole plan, and always without providing reasonable alternatives.  Be direct and say, “Interesting.  I’ll cover that later.”

            “The Jumper” must have weary legs, because he or she is always jumping to conclusions, often wrong.  Be direct and say, “Stop jumping to conclusions.  Save your questions.”

             ADMIN & LOGISTICS

1. Military: Bullets, bandages, beans, & bad guys.
2. General office: Tote boxes provided ahead of relocation/pack schedule. Diagrams of locations clearly marked.  Packing materials to be provided.
3. Virtual: Servers and backups located at X. Backup redirects and switches and help lines available at specific times for certain vendors are available.

Remember that logistics was invented by the military.  Most service members you know have never been in mortal combat, but all of them know how to examine the requirements of a project from a hundred different angles.  If you don’t have the right staffing and equipment, you will fail.  This part of the FPO, the admin & logistics part, ensures your ability to make the project happen and to keep it from slipping away.

            A tip of the hat to the US Army, who refers to this element as “Sustainment.”

If your achievement cannot be sustained, you have a bad plan. In business terms, you have a finance person for the plan, and an accountant for the execution.  Finance people look ahead and predict and plan.  Accountants tell you what happened and how much it cost you.  Think like a finance person here.

             COMMAND & CONTROL

1. Military: Where will the leaders be? What are the contingency signals?  Emergency signals?  Who is calling the FPF? (ask a vet what that is)
2. General office: Who’s in charge of each stage, and responsible for follow-up and assistance?
3. Virtual: Who gets called if there’s a glitch? Will there be status reports with pertinent information to monitor progress or problems?

Where will the communication and coordination come from?

What are the benchmarks?

Who does the trend analyses and decides to run a contingency, if necessary?

When will we know if we succeeded?

      Safety tip:  as part of your planning process, have an after-action outline drawn. 

You want to be able to control the presentation of the success (or explanation for failure) of the project.  It will be too late to pick up the broken glass when you are standing on it.  Start your presentation during the situational development right at the beginning of the project plan.

Style of organizing information of military situation

The five paragraph order or five paragraph field order is a style of organizing information about a military situation for a unit in the field. It is an element of United States Army, United States Marine Corps and United States Navy Seabees of small unit tactics, and similar order styles are used by military groups around the world.[citation needed] An order specifies the instruction to a unit in a structured format that makes it easy to find each specific requirement. The five paragraphs can be remembered with the acronym SMEAC: "S" Situation, "M" Mission, "E" Execution, "A" Administration/Logistics, "C" Command/Signal.

There are a number of subtypes of these field orders, based on knowledge patterns specific to individual military branches. Each subtype has its own acronym. Most are based on a METT-TC analysis (Mission, Enemy, Troops, Terrain, Time Available, and Civilian considerations). In addition, the Marines use the BAMCIS process (Begin the Planning, Arrange Recon, Make Recon, Complete Planning, Issue Order, Supervise) while the Army uses the eight Troop Leading Procedures (Receive the Mission, Issue a Warning Order, Make a Tentative Plan, Start Necessary Movement, Reconnoiter, Complete the Plan, Issue the Operations Order, Supervise) before executing operations in support of a mission, which is not limited to a potential enemy engagement.

Supervision is the most important step from the BAMCIS acronym. It provides a structure for the unit to be able to understand and execute the mission of the unit leader. It is different from other instruction from higher authority in that it is given orally, instead of being issued as written orders. Officers and non-commissioned officers also use it informally to communicate relevant information before a non-combat movement (e.g. administrative travel/convoy, field exercise movements, weapon re-qualification, liberty, etc.).[1]

Format

Outline of five paragraph order:

I. Situation

• A. Enemy Forces
  1. Enemy's Composition, Disposition, Strength
  2. Enemy's Capabilities & Limitations:(DRAW-DG) Defend, Reinforce, Attack, Withdraw, Delay, Gas
  3. Enemy's Most Likely Course Of Action (EMLCOA)
  4. Enemy's Most Dangerous Course of Action
• B. Friendly Forces
  1. Higher's Mission & Intent
  2. Adjacent Units
     • North/South/East/West
     • Same Echelon
  3. Supporting
• C. Attachments/Detachment
• D. Civil/Terrain considerations

II. Mission
Who, What (Tactical Task), Where, When, and Why?

III. Execution

• A. Commander's Intent[2]
  1. Center of Gravity
  2. Critical Vulnerability
  3. Exploitation Plan
  4. Desired Endstate
• B. Concept of the Operations
  1. Scheme of Maneuver
  2. Fire Support Plan
• C. Tasks
• D. Coordinating Instructions

IV. Administration/Logistics (Service Support in the Army version)

• A. Administration – "Bad Guys & Bandages": Enemy Prisoners of War ("EPW") & Casualty evacuation ("Casevac") Plans
• B. Logistics – "Beans, Bullets, & Batteries": Food, Ammunition, Supply, Communications, Pyrotechnics, etc.

V. Command/Signal (Command and Signal in the Army version)

• A. Signal
  1. Primary
  2. Alternate
  3. Contingency
  4. Emergency
• B. Command
  1. Location of Key Leaders
  2. Succession of Command

Since Marines and soldiers work in small teams, it is important that each member know and understand the order in its entirety so as to be aware of which parts of the order apply directly to them and the subordinate unit to which they belong without being exceedingly aware of minute details provided for general situational awareness.

Variants

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The British armed forces use a similar system subdivided into:

• Preliminaries – This involves the orders group going to the platoon commander and receiving their orders for their section and finding out about their commanders plans for the platoon as a whole. This stage also involves the second-in-command of a section preparing them for battle. This includes all ammunition checks ensuring all of the sections equipment is in working order and that the section is camouflaged and hydrated. This is done from the mnemonic PAWPERSO: Protection, Ammunition, Weapons, Personal Camouflage, Equipment, Radios, Specialist Equipment, Orders

This is done by the section commander. If the second-in-command has any spare time after this he will prepare a detailed model for the briefing of the troops.

• Ground – Now that the section commanders have received orders from the platoon commander they return to their sections to deliver their briefing. He or she will use the model provided for by the second-in-command to give a brief description of the ground on which the mission will take place. He will explain contours and possible cover for the route in and how it will be exploited to avoid enemy detection.
• Situation – This is similar to the American system in that it includes the enemy situation as well as friendly forces situation. When This part of the briefing is given possible enemy-locations, forces, strength, ammunition, weapons, supply routes, watering points, patrol routes, objectives, morale, and motivation.
• Mission – This is a one sentence statement that summarises the mission objectives. For example, The mission to is to conduct a fighting patrol in order to eliminate any enemy positions so that the platoon can keep advancing into enemy territory safely. The mission statement is extremely important as it is more than likely the only bit of the briefing squaddies are bothered to listen to. So make it short sharp and to the point. You must always repeat the mission twice so that any squaddies not paying attention have a chance to catch what it is they are meant to be doing.
• Execution – If a briefing is considered to be a sandwich this would be considered the filling. It should be the longest part of the briefing and will explain in detail exactly what is going to be done under all conditions. This means the first plan of attack and any thing that will be done if the plan is compromised in any way for example if something unexpected happens. The section commander will explain the plan in a series of logical commands. it starts as follows

• Service Support – This is to do with all equipment that is needed specifically for the mission this ranges from Personal clothing to technical possibilities of any possible support weapons. This is a quick section which allows each member of the section to know exactly what to bring. Remember if you are giving orders for a recce patrol remind your section to wear warm kit because if they die from the cold it is on you. This should have all been prepared by the second-in-command during the prelims but you have to check.
• Command and signal – This section involves mainly two things everything to do with radios and all passwords and code names and signals which may be used during the patrol.

The radio section involves radio checks and ensuring the frequency is correct and that any change in frequency happens at exactly 23:59 right before midnight. Call signs for the radio network are handed out just remember that the platoon commander is always zero. the majority of the time the sections go in alpha numerical order e.g., section 1's point man is 1,1 second person is 1,2 and the third is 1,3 and so on through all three section for the platoon. It is important that voice procedures are followed so that no information can be gained by the enemy over the radio waves.

The password and code name section for the command and signals orders involves giving out the password for the return journey so that the sentry does not shoot you when you return. This should only be a last resort as if the enemy hear it they could pretend to be a part of the section. Generally a sentry knows roughly what time you are coming back at due to the platoon commander informing him.

• Questions – These are to and from the patrol to ensure they understand what you said. Remember when asking a question post pause pounce. So give them a question see who looks like they know the answer then ask someone who looks nervous because they were not paying attention.

See also

• Operations order
• Intent (military)

References

1. ^ The Operations Process TRADOC. Retrieved 16 January 2013
2. ^ MCDP 1 Warfighting U.S. Marine Corps, Pg. 88 Retrieved 16 January 2013

• Field Training Manual - Student Handout, United States Marine Corps.
• Video of General Sheehan explaining the origins of SMEAC. Includes an explanation of why the Marines refined the Mission section after Vietnam.

External links

• The Five Paragraph Field Order: Can a better format be found to transmit combat information to small tactical units?

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