The Five Paragraph
Order
OCS 4012
Purpose of the Order
“Remember gentlemen, an order that can be
misunderstood will be misunderstood. An order
should contain everything that a commander
cannot do himself, but nothing else.”--Count
Helmut Von-Moltke
 At OCS, you will use a version of the fiveparagraph operations order format specially
adapted for use by companies, platoons, and
squads.

Five Paragraph Order
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
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Form of operations order structured for
small unit leader.
Consists of Orientation and five
paragraphs: Situation, Mission, the plan
and method of Execution, Administration
and Logistics, and Command and Signal
information.
O-SMEAC
ORIENTATION


Purpose of Orientation is to simply orient
subordinates prior to the issuing of the
order. Be brief.
At OCS, Orientation includes:
Present Location (PL)-eight digit grid
Direction of Attack (DOA)-cardinal direction
Location of Objective (OBJ)-eight digit grid
1. SITUATION
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Contains information on overall status and
disposition of both friendly and enemy
forces.
Info that is deemed essential to subordinate
leader’s understanding of situation.
Contains three subparagraphs: a) Enemy
Forces; b) Friendly Forces; c) Attachments
and Detachments.
a) Enemy Forces
1.
SALUTE: Obtained directly from higher
commander’s order. Size of the enemy
force, their Activity, last known Location,
Unit type/designation, Time enemy was
last observed, and Equipment they
possess. (T-SUALE).

Include politics of situation. The more info your
Marines have, the more confident they will be in
assault. Fill in the blanks for them.
a) Enemy Forces, cont.
2. DRAW-D: Highlights what courses of action the
enemy is capable of executing. Stands for
Defend, Reinforce, Attack, Withdraw, and Delay.
No requirement for all info, only what is likely.
 EMPCOA--Enemy’s Most Probable Course Of
Action; Determines entire plan/tactics. Created
by commander (You!).
Example…
b) Friendly Forces


From higher commander’s order. Info limited to what
subordinates need to know for mission
accomplishment.
HAS:
1. Higher: mission of next highest order. (taken from
higher commander’s MISSION statement)
2. Adjacent: mission/location of surrounding units.
(taken from TASKS of commander’s order.
Importance?) The other SQUADS!!!!
3. Supporting: Nonorganic units providing fire support
or combat service support. For SULE II, state
“none”.
c) Attachments and Detachments
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
Non-organic units (a unit excluded from
basic rifle platoon) attached (+) and/or
organic units detached (-) from unit.
Includes unit and time effective.
Importance?
SULE II, simply state “none”
2. MISSION


Clear, concise statement of what unit is
to accomplish. “Five W’s”--Who (unit),
What (task), When (time), Where (grid),
and Why (purpose).
Mission statement is heart of order,
always stated in full. Taken from TASK
section of higher commander’s order.
MISSION, cont.


Purpose (Why) is predominate to Task
(What), or the action to be taken, and
always follows “in order to”.
If unit designated as Main Effort, must state
so. Commander ensures success of main
effort with preponderance of support. ME is
unit’s bid for success.
3. EXECUTION

“How to” information, including
Commander’s Intent, Concept of the
Operation, Tasks to subordinate leaders,
and Coordinating instructions.
a) Commander’s Intent

Expands on purpose of mission, so that in
absence of orders, mission can be accomplished.
 Requires three specific items: 1) Purpose of
operation, 2) enemy’s critical weakness, 3) plan
for exploiting critical vulnerability.
 Focus on enemy’s Critical Vulnerability. Provides
window to enemy’s center of gravity.
 Not required at OCS
b) Concept of Operations
1.
Scheme of Maneuver: broad “paintbrush”
conceptions w/o identifying specific units.
Begin at present location (PL) and brief
unit’s actions through completion of
mission. Includes form of maneuver for
each leg between control measures, and
basic plan for consolidation/ reorganization
(180/360).
2.
Fire Support Plan: Complements SoM above.
For SULE II, state “none”.
Scheme of Maneuver
“Cookie Cutter Answer”

We will conduct a frontal attack. We will
leave the AA in a squad column, F/T wedge.
Upon reaching the Atk position we will
transition into a Squad wedge, F/T wedge
and cross the LOD. At the assault position,
we will get into a squad online, F/T
skirmishers right to assault the obj. Each fire
team will assault a different 1/3 of the obj.
After assaulting 10-20 M through the
objective we will form a hasty 180. Once the
c) Tasks
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Includes specific missions to be
accomplished by each subordinate element
of unit listed in separate numbered
subparagraph.
Task statements are your subordinate unit’s
mission statements, and should be written
as such.
Includes “5 W’s”; designate Main Effort.
d) Coordinating Instructions
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Information that pertains to all.
Includes:
1. Time of Attack (ToA): Designated time to
cross the Line of Departure (LoD)
2. Base Unit : Main effort (Fighter-Leader
Concept) Ex 1st F/T will be the ME, they
will be located in the middle of the
formation, 2nd firetam will be support, they
will be located in the rear of the formation
3. Order of Movement (OoM): Formations
through each control measure and each
fireteam’s location in them.
–
–
Assembly Area--Attack Position
Attack Position--Assault Position
d) Coord Inst, continued
4. Security Assignments during movements and
halts, assigning 180/360 sectors of responsibility.
Assign sectors of fire via the clock method for
each fire team.
5. Tactical Control Measures (TCM): For SULE II
list 8 digit grid information and terrain feature for
each control measure, including Line of Departure.
This information is taken directly from higher
Commander’s TCM.
d) Coord. Inst., continued
6. Route to Objective (RTE): direction
(azimuth in degrees magnetic), distance,
and key terrain features for each of the
three legs between control measures.
Provides Marines with idea of what to
expect along the way to the objective,
and how they will recognize control
measures.
4. ADMINISTRATION and
LOGISTICS
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Contains info for subordinate units to
coordinate resupply, recovery of equipment,
and evacuation of wounded and prisoners.
Addresses the “Four B’s”--Beans, Bullets,
Bandages, and Bad Guys.
Divided into two subparagraphs.
a) Administration
b) Logistics
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Bandages: MEDEVAC plan for wounded,
including location of corpsman.
Bad Guys: Enemy Prisoners of War (EPWs)
handling procedures and evac plan.
Beans: chow and water
Bullets: type of ammunition and quantity
5. COMMAND and SIGNAL

Two subparagraphs, SIGNAL comes before
COMMAND!
 Signal: Specifies prearranged signals,
passwords/countersigns, radio call
signs/frequencies/procedures, Emergency signals,
pyrotechnics, and restrictions on communications.
 Cookie Cutter answer!!!!
 SULE II: Use hand and arm signals until enemy
contact, then switch to verbal commands. No
Pyro or radio.
COMMAND/SIGNAL, cont.


Command: includes your location, location
of higher commander and key leaders, and
succession of command.
SULE II, Platoon Commmander, Platoon
Sergeant, yourself (squad leader), and
succeeding fireteam leaders.
Issuing the Order
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Remember audience.
Speak in clear and confident voice at
conversational speed, or slightly faster. If
you appear confident and knowledgeable of
the situation, you will inspire subordinates to
follow your leadership.
Begin with “Hold all question until the end.”
Conclude with“The time is now…, are there
any questions?”