FM-3-81 Maneuver Enhancement Brigade Download
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09 November 2021 FM 3-81 A-1 Appendix A Synchronize and Coordinate Protection The support area commander synchronizes, integrates, and organizes protection capabilities and resources to protect the force, preserve combat power, reduce risk, and mitigate identified vulnerabilities throughout the support area. Criticality, vulnerability, and recoverability are some of the most significant considerations in determining protection priorities. Although all military assets are important and all resources have value, the capabilities they represent are not equal in their contribution to overall mission accomplishment. Determining and directing protection priorities may involve the most important decisions the support area commander makes and their staffs support. PROTECTION A-1. Protection is the preservation of the effectiveness and survivability of mission-related military and nonmilitary personnel, equipment, facilities, information, and infrastructure deployed or located within or outside the boundaries of a given operational area (JP 3-0). Protection serves as a warfighting function and as a continuous and enduring activity. It integrates all protection capabilities to secure routes, prevent casualties, and protect forces. A-2. Protection is not linear–planning, preparing, executing, and assessing protection is continuous and enduring. Protection preserves capability, momentum, and tempo. Protection is an important contributor to operational reach and closely relates to endurance and momentum. It also contributes to the commander’s ability to extend operations in time and space. Commanders and staffs synchronize, integrate, and organize capabilities and resources throughout the operations process to preserve combat power, enable freedom of action, and prevent or mitigate the effects of threats and hazards. A-3. The principles of protection provide Army leaders and staffs with a context for implementing protection efforts, developing schemes of protection, and allocating resources (see ADP 3-37 for additional information on the protection principles): Comprehensive. Integrated. Layered. Redundant. Enduring. PROTECTION WARFIGHTING FUNCTION A-4. The protection warfighting function refers to the related tasks and systems that preserve the force so the commander can apply maximum combat power to accomplish the mission (ADP 3-0). Preserving the force includes protecting personnel (combatants and noncombatants), systems, and physical assets of the United States and unified action partners. The protection warfighting function enables commanders to preserve force integrity and combat power by integrating protection capabilities to safeguard friendly forces, civilians, and infrastructure. Commanders incorporate protection when they understand and visualize capabilities available for protection. Some of these actions or effects may be generated through the combined integration of the eight elements of combat power, resulting in an increasingly effective and efficient scheme of protection.