Military Review English Edition November-December 2013 | Page 26

Mission Command Philosophy
Exercise of authority and direction by the commander using mission
orders to enable disciplined initiative within the commander’s intent
to empower agile and adaptive leaders in the conduct of unified land
operations.
Guided by the principles of…
• Build cohesive teams through mutual trust
• Create shared understanding
• Provide a clear commander’s intent
• Exercise disciplined initiative
• Use mission orders
• Accept prudent risk
The principles of mission command assist
commanders and staff in balancing the
art of command with the science of control.
Figure 1
The Mission Command Philosophy (ADP 6-0).

their commander’s intent. It may sound simple, but
its practice in combat under conditions of increasing uncertainty and ever-growing complexity will
demand the utmost in initiative, agility, and adaptation from those who must execute.
Complexity demands clear thinking, and to that
end, doctrine provides our leaders with guidance,
in the form of principles, which support the mission command philosophy (see Figure 1). They can
be found both in doctrine and reprinted in various
journals and forums over the past year. Notably,
each of these principles begins with a clear verb, and
thus compels to action our leaders, our people, our
organizations, and our systems.
In our profession, each action has a purpose, and
the purpose of these principles ultimately is to apply
mission command toward the execution of our mission. We can agree then that mission command is a
warfighting function whose systems and processes
enable and serve the exercise of its philosophy and
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its principles, vice a collection of costly systems and
organizations that serve only themselves.
We have thus far only discussed a guiding philosophy—a system of values and an underlying theory.
Before addressing its implementation and its practice, it is helpful to reflect on the changes the Army
has experienced in the last decade, the evolving environment that calls for adaptation, and the process by
which our people—our most valuable resource—will
adapt in the face of this changing world.

The Changing Environment

The past 12 years of conflict, largely focused on
counterinsurgency and large-scale stability operations, have encouraged us to place a high premium
on leaders who are adaptable and resilient, tactically
proficient, culturally competent, and able to deal
with a broad set of military, political, social, and
other operational factors that present challenges to
mission accomplishment. This is due, in large part,
November-December 2013

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