PREPARING FOR AND PRACTICING MISSION COMMAND IN THE CONTEMPORARY MILITARY ENVIRONMENT
PREPARING FOR AND PRACTICING MISSION COMMAND IN THE CONTEMPORARY MILITARY ENVIRONMENT

Summary/Abstract: Today‘s military environment requires many states to find ways to develop capabilities to fight a high-intensity conventional war, to protect and to fight with scattered forces under the conditions of an effective adversary threat to include air attacks and modern missile technology. Simultaneously, modern disruptive technology could deny command structures the ability to maintain constant communication with their forces on the ground. Such situations in which subordinates are unable to communicate easily with their superiors might create the risk of losing the fight initiative or the chance to seize opportunities while awaiting new orders. These factors emphasize the importance of creating military units that can fight autonomously, with limited guidance from higher levels of command, by properly exercising Mission Command (MC) principles. The main goal of this paper is to analyze the role of education as an enabler to an easier adoption of Mission Command philosophy, to formulate recommendations regarding the establishment of a proper organizational culture that favors MC and to highlight the complexity of implementing MC in practice.

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