Upgrade/update to the NEW 4th Edition (SMFLS4)!

Upgrade/update to the NEW edition!The Sustainment & Multifunctional Logistician’s SMARTbook, 2nd Rev. Ed. (Oct 2009) has been superseded by a newer 4th edition SMFLS4 (Dec 2015). Always check our website for the most current and up-to-date SMARTbook edition! The Lightning Press is committed to providing the best and most relevant doctrinal material to our readers and are vigilant in reviewing new publications, anticipating upcoming doctrinal releases, and incorporating the updated material into our SMARTbook series! Click "View New Edition" above to browse the new edition! SMFLS4 is the fourth revised edition of The Sustainment & Multifunctional Logistics SMARTbook. In addition to the most current versions of ADP/ADRP 4-0 Sustainment (Jul ‘12), SMFLS4 incorporates the full scope of new material from ATP 4-94 Theater Sustainment Command (Jun ‘13), ATP 4-93 Sustainment Brigade (Aug ‘13), ATP 4-90 Brigade Support Battalion (Aug ‘14), Sustainment Planning, JP 4-0 Joint Logistics (Oct ‘13), ATP 3-35 Army Deployment and Redeployment (Mar ‘15), and more than a dozen new/updated Army sustainment references to include ATP 4-33, ATP 4-42, ATP 4-16, ATP 4-0.1, ATP 4-34.40, ATP 4-92, FM 1-0, FM 1-04, FM 1-05, FM 1-06, FM 4-01, FM 4-02, and FM 4-30!

Guide to Logistics, Personnel Services & Health Services Support

SMFLS4: The Sustainment & Multifunctional Logistics SMARTbook, 4th Ed. (w/Change 1*) is the fourth revised edition of The Sustainment & Multifunctional Logistics SMARTbook. In addition to the most current versions of ADP/ADRP 4-0 Sustainment (Jul ‘12), SMFLS4 incorporates the full scope of new material from ATP 4-94 Theater Sustainment Command (Jun ‘13), ATP 4-93 Sustainment Brigade (Apr ‘16), ATP 4-90 Brigade Support Battalion (Aug ‘14), Sustainment Planning, JP 4-0 Joint Logistics (Oct ‘13), ATP 3-35 Army Deployment and Redeployment (Mar ‘15), and more than a dozen new/updated Army sustainment references to include ATP 4-33, ATP 4-42, ATP 4-16, ATP 4-0.1, ATP 4-34.40, ATP 4-92, FM 1-0, FM 1-04, FM 1-05, FM 1-06, FM 4-01, FM 4-02, and FM 4-30!

* Change 1 to SMFLS4 (Mar 2018) incorporates new material from ATP 4-93 Sustainment Brigade (Apr ‘16) and minor text edits from ADRP 3-0 (Nov ‘16). An asterisk marks changed pages.

The sustainment warfighting function is related tasks and systems that provide support and services to ensure freedom of action, extend operational reach, and prolong endurance. The sustainment warfighting function consists of three major elements: logistics, personnel services, & health service support.

Unified land operations acknowledges that strategic success requires fully integrating U.S. military operations with the efforts of interagency and multinational partners. The sustainment of unified land operations requires a continuous link between the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. It also requires close coordination and collaboration with other Services, allies, host nation, and other governmental organizations.

Decisive action is the continuous, simultaneous combinations of offensive, defensive, and stability or defense support of civil authorities tasks. Commanders seek to seize, retain, and exploit the initiative while synchronizing their actions. Sustainment, through mission command, enables decisive action. Sustainment provides the operational commander with operational reach, freedom of action and endurance.

Guide to Joint, Multinational & Interorganizational Operations

Announcing a new FIFTH revised edition! JFODS5: The Joint Forces Operations & Doctrine SMARTbook, 5th Ed., incorporates the full scope of new material from the latest editions of JP 3-0 Joint Operations (Jan ‘17), JP 5-0 Joint Planning (Jun ’17), JP 1 Doctrine for the Armed Forces of the United States (Change 1, Jul ‘17), and JP 3-08 Interorganizational Cooperation (Oct ‘16). Additional chapters and topics include Joint Task Force Headquarters (Jun ‘12), JP 4-0 Joint Logistics (Oct ‘13), JDN 2-13 Commander’s Communication Synchronization (Dec ‘13), JP 3-13 Information Operations (Nov ‘14), and JP 3-16 Multinational Operations (Jul ‘13).

The nature of the challenges to the United States and its interests demand that the Armed Forces operate as a fully integrated joint team across the conflict continuum.

Joint operations are military actions conducted by joint forces and those Service forces employed in specified command relationships with each other, which of themselves do not establish joint forces. The potential range of military activities and operations extends from military engagement, security cooperation, and deterrence in times of relative peace up through major operations and campaigns that typically involve large-scale combat.

Joint planning is the deliberate process of determining how (the ways) to use military capabilities (the means) in time and space to achieve objectives (the ends) while considering the associated risks.

Joint logistics is the coordinated use, synchronization, and sharing of two or more Military Departments’ logistics resources to support the joint force. Sustainment provides the joint force commanders freedom of action, endurance, and the ability to extend operational reach.

A joint task force (JTF) is established when the scope, complexity, or other factors of the contingency or crisis require capabilities of Services from at least two Military Departments operating under a single joint force commander.

Information-Related Capabilities (IRCs) are the tools, techniques, or activities that affect any of the three dimensions of the information environment.

Achieving national strategic objectives requires effective unified action resulting in unity of effort -- to include interagency, intergovernmental, nongovernmental and multinational partners. This is accomplished by interorganizational cooperation, synchronization, and coordination in the use of the diplomatic, informational, military, and economic instruments of national power.

Leading, Planning & Conducting Military Operations

BSS5: The Battle Staff SMARTbook, 5th Ed. incorporates the full scope of new material from FM 6-0 (w/change 2), Commander and Staff Organization and Operations (May ‘15); ATP 2-01.3/MCRP 2-3A, Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield/Battlespace (Nov '14); ADRP 1-02, Operational Terms and Military Symbols (Feb ‘15); FM 3-09, Field Artillery Operations and Fire Support (Apr ‘14); ATP 3-60, Targeting (May ‘15); and ATP 5-19 (w/change 1), Risk Management (Apr ‘14). Chapters and topics include the operations process (ADRP 5-0); commander’s activities (Understand, Visualize, Describe, Direct, Lead, Assess); the military decisionmaking process and troop leading procedures (FM 6-0: MDMP & TLP); integrating processes and continuing activities (IPB, targeting, risk management); plans and orders (WARNOs/FRAGOs/OPORDs); mission command, command posts, liaison (ADRP 6-0); rehearsals & after action reviews; and operational terms and military symbols (ADRP 1-02).

* This is the third printing of BSS5 (dated Apr 2017), incorporating minor text edits from Change 2 to FM 6-0 (Apr 2016) and ADRP 3-0 (Nov 2016). An asterisk marks changed content.

Commanders, supported by their staffs, use the operations process to drive the conceptual and detailed planning necessary to understand, visualize, and describe their operational environment; make and articulate decisions; and direct, lead, and assess military operations. The Army’s framework for exercising mission command is the operations process: planning, preparing, executing, and continuously assessing the operation.

Planning is the art and science of understanding a situation, envisioning a desired future, and laying out effective ways of bringing that future about. Design is a methodology for applying critical and creative thinking to understand, visualize, and describe complex, ill-structured problems and develop approaches to solve them. Preparation is activities that units perform to improve their ability to execute an operation. Execution puts a plan into action by applying combat power to accomplish the mission and using situational understanding to assess progress and make execution and adjustment decisions. Assessment is continuously monitoring and evaluating the current situation and the progress of an operation.

The military decisionmaking process (MDMP) is an iterative planning methodology to understand the situation and mission develop a course of action, and produce an operation plan or order. The MDMP helps leaders apply thoroughness, clarity, sound judgment, logic, and professional knowledge to understand situations, develop options to solve problems, and reach decisions. This process, consisting of seven steps with inputs and outputs, helps commanders, staffs, and others think critically and creatively while planning.

Throughout the operations process, commanders and staffs integrate the warfighting functions to synchronize the force in accordance with the commander’s intent and concept of operations. Commanders and staffs use several integrating processes and continuing activities to do this. In addition to the major activities of the operations process, commanders and staffs use several integrating processes to synchronize specific functions throughout the operations process. The integrating processes are: intelligence preparation of the battlefield (IPB), targeting and risk management.

A product of planning is a plan or order—a directive for future action. Commanders issue plans and orders to subordinates to communicate their understanding of the situation and their visualization of an operation. Plans and orders direct, coordinate, and synchronize subordinate actions and inform those outside the unit how to cooperate and provide support.

Mission command is the 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. Mission command is one of the foundations of unified land operations. This philosophy of command helps commanders capitalize on the human ability to take action to develop the situation and integrate military operations to achieve the commander’s intent and desired end state.

Rehearsals allow leaders and their Soldiers to practice executing key aspects of the concept of operations. These actions help Soldiers orient themselves to their environment and other units before executing the operation. An after action review (AAR) is a guided analysis of an organization’s performance, conducted at appropriate times during and at the conclusion of a training event or operation with the objective of improving future performance. The AAR provides valuable feedback essential to correcting training deficiencies. Feedback must be direct, on-the-spot and standards-based.

Guide to FM/ADRP 3-0 Operations & the Elements of Combat Power

AODS6: The Army Operations & Doctrine SMARTbook (Guide to FM/ADRP 3-0 Operations & the Elements of Combat Power) is the new sixth edition of our Army SMARTbook. In addition to unified land operations (ADRP 3-0) and large-scale combat operations (FM 3-0), the 400-pg AODS6 includes completely updated and refocused chapters on the elements of combat power: mission command (ADP/ADRP 6-0), movement and maneuver (ADPs 3-90, 3-07, 3-28, 3-05), intelligence (ADP/ADRP 2-0), fires (ADP/ADRP 3-09), sustainment (ADP/ADRP 4-0), & protection (ADP/ADRP 3-37).

An operation is a sequence of tactical actions with a common purpose or unifying theme. Army forces, as part of the joint force, contribute to the joint fight through the conduct of unified land operations.

Unified land operations (ADRP 3-0) describes how the Army seizes, retains, and exploits the initiative to gain and maintain a position of relative advantage in sustained land operations through simultaneous offensive, defensive, and stability operations in order to prevent or deter conflict, prevail in war, and create the conditions for favorable conflict resolution. Unified land operations is the Army’s operational concept and the Army’s contribution to unified action.

While the U.S. Army must be manned, equipped, and trained to operate across the range of military operations, large-scale ground combat against a peer threat represents the most significant readiness requirement. FM 3-0 expands on ADRP 3-0 by providing tactics describing how theater armies, corps, divisions, and brigades work together and with unified action partners to successfully prosecute operations short of conflict, prevail in large-scale combat operations, and consolidate gains to win.

Decisive action is the continuous, simultaneous combinations of offensive, defensive, and stability or defense support of civil authorities tasks. Army forces conduct multi-domain battle, as part of a joint force, to seize, retain, and exploit control over enemy forces. Army forces deter adversaries, restrict enemy freedom of action, and ensure freedom of maneuver and action in multiple domains for the joint force commander.

Combat power is the total means of destructive, constructive, and information capabilities that a military unit or formation can apply at a given time. To an Army commander, Army forces generate combat power by converting potential into effective action. Combat power has eight elements: leadership, information, mission command, movement and maneuver, intelligence, fires, sustainment, and protection. The Army collectively describes the last six elements as the warfighting functions.

Military Leadership & Training in a Complex World

TLS5: The Leader's SMARTbook, 5th Ed. incorporates the full scope of new material from FM 7-0 Train to Win in a Complex World, FM 6-22 Leader Development, and ATP 6-22.6 Army Team Building! Jam-packed at 400 pages, topics and chapters include military leadership (ADP/ADRP 6-22); leader development (FM 6-22); coach, counsel, and mentor (ATP 6-22.1), team building; (ATP 6-22.6), military training (ADP/ADRP 7-0), train to win in a complex world (FM 7-0); unit training plans, meetings, schedules, briefs; conducting training events and exercises; training assessments, evaluations and after action reviews.

Among professions, the Army Profession has unique characteristics because of the lethality of our operations. The Nation tasks the Army to do many things besides combat operations, but ultimately the primary reason the Army exists is to fight and win the Nation’s wars through prompt and sustained land combat, as part of the joint force. The Army must always be prepared to accomplish this mission through the application of lethal force.

Leadership is the process of influencing people by providing purpose, direction, and motivation to accomplish the mission and improve the organization. As an element of combat power, leadership unifies the other elements of combat power (information, mission command, movement and maneuver, intelligence, fires, sustainment and protection). Confident, competent, and informed leadership intensifies the effectiveness of the other elements of combat power.

The Army depends upon itself to develop adaptable leaders able to achieve mission accomplishment in dynamic, unstable, and complex environments. A robust, holistic leader development program is essential. Through a mix of education, training, and experience, Army leader development processes produce and sustain agile, adaptive, and innovative leaders who act with boldness and initiative in dynamic, complex situations to execute missions according to doctrine, orders, and training.

Leaders have three principal ways of developing others. They can provide knowledge and feedback through counseling, coaching, and mentoring. The military is a team of teams composed of numerous organizations with one overarching common mission: win the nation’s wars. The ability to build teams through mutual trust and maintain effective, cohesive teams throughout military operations is an essential skill for all commanders, staffs, and leaders.

The Army trains to win in a complex world. To fight and win in a chaotic, ambiguous, and complex environment, the Army trains to provide forces ready to conduct unified land operations. The Army does this by conducting tough, realistic, and challenging training. Training is the most important thing the Army does to prepare for operations. Training is the cornerstone of readiness. Readiness determines our Nation’s ability to fight and win in a complex global environment.