Military Review English Edition July-August 2015 | Page 97

OPERATIONAL ART

usually focused on lines of effort. Operational art and
its associated elements can be elusive because they
focus much more on art than science. The process of
performing operational art is not defined and codified
with the same prescriptive techniques and procedures
that inform the tactics of conventional warfighting.
However, by clarifying the terms and concepts in our
doctrine and applying some prescriptive techniques
to focus that doctrine, we can simplify the process of
operational art into a paint-by-numbers project.
Operational art spans a planning continuum that
runs from comprehensive strategic actions down to
concrete tactical actions.1 Both joint and Army elements use operational art, which is defined as the use
of creative thinking to design strategies, campaigns, and
major operations.2 Operational art allows commanders
and staffs to think through the challenges of understanding their environment and the problem, and then
develop a concept that frames and guides detailed planning.3 The elements of operational art are intellectual
tools that help commanders and staffs visualize and
describe their approach for conducting an operation.
These tools include end state and conditions, centers
of gravity, lines of effort, phases and transitions, and
several other elements that allow commanders to assess
and plan long-term operations.
Joint and Army doctrine provides descriptions and
basic examples of centers of gravity, problem statements, operational approach, and lines of effort. This
doctrine also describes a general sequence of actions
that leads from operational art to detailed planning.
Joint Publication ( JP) 5-0, Joint Operation Planning,
describes the overall methodology for developing an
operational approach with lines of effort consisting of
understanding the strategic direction and goals, understanding the operational environment, and defining
the problem.4 This doctrine is not prescriptive; it does
not provide specific techniques for developing planning
products or an exact sequence for these efforts.

Applying Operational Art
The process of conducting operational art can be
simplified through the use of plain language to describe
key terms and concepts as well as a clearly prescribed sequence of actions. To clarify this process, we will employ a
simple example familiar to many military members—the
permanent change of station (PCS) move. A PCS move is
MILITARY REVIEW  July-August 2015

a complex event that takes place over an extended period
of time and lends itself well to planning using operational
art and an operational approach. In this example we will
use the following scenario:
It is January 2015. Maj. Smith is stationed at Fort
Leavenworth, Kansas, attending the Command and
General Staff Officer Course. Maj. and Mrs. Smith, their
two children, and their dog reside in a rental house in
Lansing, Kansas. They own two cars. The Smith children
attend elementary school in Lansing. There are no special
circumstances within the Smith family, such as exceptional family member, joint domicile, etc. Maj. Smith has been
notified by Human Resources Command that he will
receive PCS orders for an accompanied tour to Hohenfels,
Germany, with a report date of July 2015. The unit he
will be assigned to is not slated to deploy anywhere for the
next eighteen months.
The simplified process of operational art we will employ will follow these four steps:
1. Determine key actors and their desired end states.
2. Develop a problem statement.
3. Determine friendly and enemy centers of gravity
and associated requirements.
4. Develop an operational approach with lines of effort.

Step 1: Determine Key Actors and
Their Desired End States
In both joint and Army doctrine, it is necessary to
understand the operational environment and all of the
actors within it. The overall goal of understanding the
environment is to “produce a holistic view of the relevant
enemy, neutral, and friendly systems as a complex whole
within a larger system.”5 This consists of answering several
questions. What is going on? Why is it going on? Who
is involved? What do they want? In the end, we need
to identify the key actors and their desired end states,
including the end state of friendly forces. Knowing the end
states of all relevant actors will help us determine centers
of gravity.
In the PCS scenario, the Smith family represents the
friendly for