Military Review English Edition May-June 2016 | Page 97

SOCIAL FACTORS

commander visualizes an appropriate
end state, but also
how he plans to
achieve it.
The effect of
social factors on the
commander’s visualization is especially apparent during
stability operations.
Revisiting the
previous example
of a unit deployed
to the Sinai, the
commander would
use mission com(Photo courtesy of the office of the Egyptian president)
mand and social
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi shakes hands with a member of the Egyptian Armed Forces during a
factors to execute
4 July 2015 visit to North Sinai, Egypt.
a peacekeeping
mission. The problem set requires that the commander
along with other inputs to build a strategy for the
use the subtler tools of power projection such as secusecurity meeting. Before deciding when the meeting
rity cooperation, promoting economic infrastructure
would take place, planners consider the religiosity of
development, and cooperating with local governance, in Egyptian society. Meetings will have to be scheduled
addition to achieving the assigned mission to observe,
around prayer times. An understanding of moral
verify, and report. Understanding the social factors
aspects of Egyptian society cues the staff into the
of Egypt, the commander and staff can successfully
importance of honor and hospitality. The ranks for
navigate high-level meetings with Egyptian officials.
both parties of the meeting must be equivalent in some
Take, for example, a collaborative security meeting
sense. Commanders would meet with commanders,
between the Multinational Force and Observers and
and deputies with deputies. Additionally, the host of
Egyptian leaders.
the meeting would provide for the needs of their guests.
In Egyptian circles, the most basic provisions are tea
A Mission Command Vignette
and tobacco. The economic dimension to the meeting
In advance of this meeting, the commander has
is not just about business. Egyptians feel the need to
dialogue with the staff, specifically the force proteccreate personal relationships with those they intend
tion officer and the liaison officer. In this dialogue, he
to do business with. Hence, before the business finally
establishes his objectives for the meeting, clearly states
concludes, the participants will leave with a personal
his intent, and details his expectations for the end state. connection and broadened network. Using these inputs
In this case, the commander describes a concept to the
with mission command, the commander and staff are
force protection officer and the liaison officer that will
prepared to conduct the meeting.
establish security protocols that benefit the force and
In this case, the commander works to achieve
prepare it for potential crisis response scenarios.
his security objectives in a fashion akin to the baHaving the commander’s intent and end state, the
sics of maneuver warfare: focus on objectives, byforce protection officer and the liaison officer build the
pass resistance, and reinforce successes. This means
agenda for the meeting. While the agenda includes a
building consensus by leveraging past agreements as
variety of security concerns, both long-standing and
precedents of successful transactions. Additionally,
newly formed, the staff uses the MRsSPEA framework
the commander is careful to avoid potential
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