S.M.E.A.C.
Lt Senneville
803 North Shore Sabre
What is S.M.E.A.C.?
• It is a standardized method to tell people what
you want accomplished.
• Dates back from the American civil war period
(In Europe and America) when the litterary
rate in the ranks was very low.
• Officers where the educated class
• It is a method to transmit orders
• It is an acronym for the 5 paragraph order
5 paragraph order
• The five paragraph order or five paragraph
field order is a style of organizing information
about a military situation for a unit in the
field.
• An OPSO is formatted to organize an
operation into five easily understood
paragraphs:
– (Works in everyday life too)
Order
• An order specifies the instruction(s) to a unit
in a structured format that makes it easy to
find each specific requirement.
• In other words; tell what you want
accomplished…and how, but make it simple
and organized.
5 paragraph order
• The five paragraphs can be remembered with
the acronym SMEAC:
– "S" Situation,
– "M" Mission,
– "E" Execution,
– "A" Administration/Logistics,
– "C" Command/Signal or Command /Control
Situation
• « Tell people what’s going on, 2 levels above
and at the right and left flank, otherwise you
operate in a vacuum. »
• It’s called Situational Awareness (SA)
– Positive factors
– Negative factors
– Intent
– Includes morale and motivation
Example Situation
• 1) 803 North Shore Sabre Squadron will, on
Aug 28-29 and 30th , hold an NCO Leadership
workshop at (location) to evaluate the skills of
selected senior cadets. This is to fill key cadet
positions in the Squadron for the upcoming
training year.
• 2) There will be 15 cadets, 9 males and 6
females supervised by 5 male and 2 female
staff members
Mission
•
•
•
•
•
Who,
What,
Where,
When, and
(most importantly) Why?
– The 5W’s
Mission
• Selected senior cadets will be tasked with
different challenges and will be rated by staff
members.
• The tasks will be distributed to demonstrate
their knowledge and leadership capacity with
the help of this lecture.
• The results will be reviewed by the CO and
staff to establish key cadet positions in the
squadron.
Execution
• A. Desired end state
– Exploitation plan and vulnerabilities
• B. Concept of the Operations
– movement or manoeuvres
•
•
•
•
C. Tasks, schedule
D. Coordinating Instructions
E. Restrictions
These can be referred to annexes or appendix
Execution
• Equipment needed
This is to do with all equipment that is
needed specifically for the mission this
ranges from Personal clothing to technical
possibilities of any possible support
equipment. This is a quick section which
allows each member of the section to know
exactly what to bring. Could be referred to
in an annex or appendix: It is possible that
these are repeated from mission to
mission. Nevertheless, take time to
review and validate.
Administration and logistics
• Administration – « Bad Guys, permissions &
Papers »
• Logistics – In the army they call it "Beans, Bullets, &
Band aids":
– Chow, Equipment and Health
• Movement and transportation
• Lodging
• Other
Command and Control or
Command and signals
• Chain of command and communications
– Who is in charge and job descriptions
– Location of HQ, flights and key leaders
• Signal (communications)
– Primary
– Alternate
– Contingency
– Emergency
Command and control or
Command and signals
• It is important that each member know and
understand the order in its entirety so as to be
aware of which parts of the order apply
directly to them and the subordinate unit to
which they belong without being exceedingly
aware of minute details provided for general
situational awareness.
Command and control
• often contain extensive details.
• The author of the order will often move the
majority of this material to an annex or
appendix.
• What authority is given to each position and
to what level.
• Avoid “mother, may I do this…” situations
Annexes
• All relevant annexes, documents, maps and
contact information collected and referred to
in an organized fashion.
Warning order
• Given ahead and will state a time and method
of transmitting the complete (final) orders.
• Will include Situation, Mission and as much
other key info as is available.
• Will state when and how the final orders are
to be transmitted.
– You cannot be late or absent for that order
transmission.
Confirmation
• You will receive a document and proceed with
writing your order.
• Good luck