If by nuance and other meetings, you mean actual tactical engagement… that would be the “evaluate” phase…right?
The portion of the planning process where you evaluate if the plan you are putting forward is actually being implemented would be the control and direct phase and then as an OSC you need to honestly evaluate if the plan is working.
Is that validation portion of the plan not the most important component- where you as the OSC look at the results and then adjust the plan based on weather-fuels-topography and tools that you have available to you and compare the results to the original objectives?
…This is my opinion and others may have far differing viewpoints.
As soon as you start executing the plan you then start the continuous process of assessing progress and how valid that plan is. As has been stated, no plan survives first contact with the enemy, so as soon as folks get out to the line the changes and adjustments will likely start. Evaluation and assessment is an ongoing, continuous process to help adjust current operations, as appropriate or required, and help plan the future operations needed to meet the incident objectives. During the Operational Period (OP), Division/Group Supervisors execute the plan and may make adjustments to tactics over which they have purview. Similarly, a Supervisor may reallocate resources within that Division/Group to adapt to changing conditions. Supervisors should check the progress their subordinates are making toward completing their tactical assignments using a feedback report form - something like the “Conditions, Actions, and Needs,” often referred to as a “CAN Report” (CAN), where they can be updated on the conditions being experienced, the actions the resources are taking and how they have adapted to the changes in conditions, and provide items or a list of additional tools, supplies, or materials they need in order to continue working on completing the tactical assignments.
If feedback indicates its necessity, during the planning process a Strategy Meeting may be held to discuss current objectives, strategy, and priorities, and the necessity of modifying them to meet changing conditions.
“The portion of the planning process where you evaluate if the plan you are putting forward is actually being implemented would be the control and direct phase and then as an OSC you need to honestly evaluate if the plan is working.”
I’ve never really had to evaluate if “if the plan you are putting forward is actually being implemented” but more of what adjustments need to be made for changes and how can you support what actually needs to be done based on the changing conditions. The on the ground supervisors should have a handle on your Leader’s Intent and desired end state. The work assignments on a 204 shouldn’t be restrictive or prescriptive. Empower them and resource them to be successful. That’s why the DIVS and other first level supervisors are so critical to the success of the entire organization. Operational Art is the “art” or practice of “stitching” the DIVS and/or OPBD together, getting them to support and move together as a more seamless organization. It may require changing their priorities - internally, by borrowing or moving resources, and adjusting tactics to move the entire organization forward. It is a complete ebb and flow and evaluate and adjust.
“Is that validation portion of the plan not the most important component- where you as the OSC look at the results and then adjust the plan based on weather-fuels-topography and tools that you have available to you and compare the results to the original objectives?”
I am not sure I would say it is the most important. I’d go back to what you were told by the folks on the ground – what they needed, CAN reports or otherwise, the discussions you had with your on-the-ground supervisors, and what they needed versus what they got. Throw in the Operational Art with using the Tactical Engagement Principles and how effective were in achieving them in setting up the plan. It is a sliding scale. Or maybe I would say it is a multitude of variables all in play at once and the OSC is the juggler.
Although it isn’t what you want, sometimes you go into an OP knowing that the best to expect is holding your original terrain and not getting anyone hurt. I’ve been on Santa Ana wind driven fires and you never get beyond life safety during the OP. But at least you saved lives and really - under the conditions you were handed, so what if the rest of the tactical plan was toast. Weather is so much out of our control and can completely dictate everything you do for that OP. As an OSC you have to understand that sometimes you will be given a squirt gun and asked to show up to an AR-15 show and tell sponsored by the weather.
When you say original objective, that would be the tactical objectives you were wanting to complete for that OP. I’ve been involved in night time “red teaming” discussions where you propose tactics and let the ground pounders tear it apart if they can. If they can tear it apart, was it really a good tactical plan? I won’t weigh in on the problem of folks having to refuse risk. If it was planned correctly I don’t think it should come up unless the conditions change. I’ll probably get a bunch of comments for that, but, if you are a leader you should be willing to be first in and last out.
I am also not afraid to ask SMEs to chime in. I can run a front end loader, but wouldn’t even think of getting in a D-6 or D-8 and doing steep rocky stuff. So, if I have a plan that involves an area where the contours must really like each other – cause they are almost on top of each other. I am going to throw a map in front of the “Iron Firefighters” and see what they think and their comfort level. That’s how you prevent having to see “if the plan you are putting forward is actually being implemented.”
To answer your question. Validation, evaluation, adjusting, and communicating are the biggies in my book. And everyone needs to safely go home at the end of their tour is your top priority.
4 Likes
IMHO, the variable most over looked this year has been the condition of the fuels. In 29yr I’ve never seen anything like it.
When you look at a snag patch that is 3-10 trees per acre and the rest of 3-6’ snow brush, manzanita, & black thorn. Everything you see tells you it’s a brush module. But when it rips off, it’s like a burning calderoon that Will hold heat for days(5-10 seems to be the rule of thumb) I have never given direction to dozers to “push over all snags within 100’ of the line” till this year. For comparison, lumber at Home Depot or Lowes is in the 9-13% range on any given day. Yet that brush field with snags, the timber is in the 3-10% range and some days less than that. So was the plan valid? Hindsight is always 20/20. But the day the fire made the 110,000 acre run. That piece had a dozer line 5-10 blades wide and was mostly plumbed. It had been fired 3 or 4 days before and mop up had been occurring ever since. The corner had been turned, over 650 pieces of PVT was in the process of being demobed over a week’s time when the wind, humidity, and topography aligned to do, well we now what what happened. Mother Nature gets a vote, she votes last, and has humbled me for sure and everyone I talked to has similar thoughts.
The bottom line is this, given the facts on the ground, the resources had hand and the current & projected weather. As has been stated “No plan survived 1st contact” several weeks later the Dixie Spotted over 5 miles IN TIMBER. That fact alone has taught me nothing if humility and even more respect for the IMET, FBAN & OSC that are providing inputs and outputs for the plan. Only to be humbled to the point it has caused serious mental health issues for not only the affect population. But also the C&G staff along with the line supervisors who joke “Groundhog day is real” (Bill Murray Reference)
6 Likes
I completely understand how they can feel. Humbled and humiliated are close in spelling and sometimes in feelings.
“As an OSC you have to understand that sometimes you will be given a squirt gun and asked to show up to an AR-15 show and tell sponsored by the weather.”
The fuels and weather have been considerably odd this year, and I will easily state that the fuels are getting a huge vote – and sometimes the last laugh – at our expense. Five miles in any model is fairly impossible to anticipate. Sure planning for it can be done, but it hasn’t been on folks radar screens prior to this year. That is very unfair of mother nature.
4 Likes