Plans cell: the architects of operations

Photo By Sophia Klevemann | Maj. Scott Cline, of Spartanburg, S.C., strategic planner, and Maj. Eric Johnson, of...... read more read more

Photo By Sophia Klevemann | Maj. Scott Cline, of Spartanburg, S.C., strategic planner, and Maj. Eric Johnson, of Port Huron, Mich., governance, reconstruction and economics coordination cell planner, both of HHC, 10th Mountain Division, discuss future plans in the briefing room of the plans cell section.  see less | View Image Page

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.17.2009

Story by Spc. Sophia Klevemann 

Multi-National Division-Central

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By Spc. Sophia R. Lopez
Multi-National Division – Center

CAMP VICTORY, Iraq – In order to successfully accomplish anything, one must have a plan. The plans cell of Multi-National Division – Center is the "brains" of the operation, planning to accomplish many things.

"In a general sense, plans are the architects of operations," said Maj. Scott Cline, of Spartanburg, S.C., strategic planner, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 10th Mountain Division.

The plans cell provides written guidance to supporting units throughout MND-C that articulate what the division commander, Maj. Gen. Michael Oates, wants to accomplish in that area. They provide an end state and enough detailed instructions, and allocate resources to accomplish the mission without actually telling them exactly how to go about it.

Planners are functionally aligned with the different sections throughout MND-C headquarters. If there are no planners assigned to a particular section, a planner is designated within that section to coordinate with the cell.

Over the course of the deployment, the focus of plans has changed from a security role to more of a civil capacity role. This means more interaction and involvement with the Government of Iraq to find out what they need help accomplishing.

"More and more now, what [the commanding general] is doing is speaking with his counterparts at the Iraqi divisions and understanding what their goals are," said Cline. "The elections coming up, for example, is not a U.S. security plan; it's an Iraqi security plan. Our brigades and division helped them develop it, but we are not the ones in the lead here. We are supporting them.

"The long-term goal of maintaining security is still our objective, but we don't see the enemy threat being as large as we anticipated it to be," he said. "Now, we are able to focus on other things that increase the well-being of the populace, so they are less likely to be exploited and abused by potential insurgents."

Such focus includes economic development, improving rule of law and the ability of elected officials to govern.

"We've been able to focus less on division-directed security operations," said Maj. Eric Johnson, of Port Huron, Mich., governance, reconstruction and economics coordination cell planner, HHC, 10th Mtn. Div. A major focus for the division, as soon as they arrived in country, was to push attacks down. "Because of the low level of violence we experienced, almost at zero level of violence, we're able to immediately transition over to civil capacity. We have a lot of efforts through our PRT that focus on increasing the ability of provinces to simply implement, monitor and execute their budgets," he said.

The civil affairs battalion spent time with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams to assist in helping the GoI develop and manage their budgeting system. Team Borlaug, a team of agricultural advisors from Texas A&M, made recommendations for the areas they visited. From there, MND-C agricultural advisors took the Team Borlaug initiatives and turned them into actions and plans for follow-up implementation, said Johnson.

The plans cell is also focusing more on supporting, partnering and coordinating with the GoI.

"Since the division has been here, we've always partnered with the Iraqi security forces, GoI and PRT," said Johnson. "It has always been an emphasis and kind of a cornerstone of what we do."

The commander's intent is to put the Iraqis in the lead and keep the GoI's plans at the forefront of the MND-C mission.

"Using the elections as an example, Gen. Oates has said, 'I'm not interested in developing a coalition force plan for elections. I'm interested in knowing what the Iraqis want to do and how we can help them accomplish their own objectives and build their own planning efforts,'" said Johnson.

"Everything we do now is going to be with the thought in mind of 'Is there an Iraqi plan out there?' If not, how do we develop one before we just start running off and doing stuff unilaterally that meets our ends but might be contrary to what it is they are looking for," said Cline.

The goal is to get a greater understanding of the country and what it is the Iraqi government is looking for; to understand if they have a plan in place and help them develop it, he added.

When it comes to coalition forces, a decrease in presence is visible. Many of the CF have completed their missions and turned over their battle space to either the Iraqi Army or other members of the CF.

"It's happening because the mission is being accomplished," said Cline. "The different nations that are here set different objectives for themselves. The reason the U.S. is still here is because our objectives differ slightly from what they are. It doesn't mean somebody's quit, or they weren't able to accomplish their objective, only that they had a different objective. The success of what's taking place here means they are able to redeploy and go home, just as we anticipate over the next two or three years we are going to be doing with U.S. forces. Seeing coalition forces leave is a great thing. It means we've all managed to do what we set out to accomplish," he added.

With coalition forces shrinking, provinces are slowly being turned back over to Iraqi control.

"Returning control of a province to the Iraqis has been a really great experience for all the division staff," said Johnson. "Handing back neighborhoods, handing back patrol bases or transferring control of those locations is almost the same thing as a PIC but at a much smaller, more intimate scale. It's a powerful tool to display how the Iraqis are establishing themselves as leaders in control of their own destinies."