Book Description

The military's primary mission is to fight and win our nation's wars. Warfare, by its very nature, is destructive to humans and to the natural environment. Commanders are required to exercise judgment in applying combat power and limit damage inflicted to the extent that mission accomplishment allows. Commanders must plan to implement postconflict stability measures and always keep the health and safety of their Soldiers, Marines, DA civilians, and contractors foremost in their planning. Integrating environmental considerations into the planning process helps the military to identify, prevent, and mitigate potential threats to the environment (including those affecting historical and cultural resources) and potential environmental threats to Soldiers and Marines. Environmental considerations are not solely focused on protection of the environment. For example, force health protection (FHP) issues may be directly linked to operational affects on the environment. FHP will significantly benefit from the integration of environmental considerations in the conduct of operations. Integrating environmental considerations also sustains resources, reduces the logistics footprint, promotes positive foreign nation relations, and supports postconflict stability efforts. All of these objectives contribute to the effectiveness of the mission and, when properly integrated, serve as force multipliers rather than mission distracters. The most seamless integration will occur in organizations that foster an environmental ethic, practice active environmental sustainability, and perform an environmental risk assessment as early as possible when planning an operation. Environmental considerations in planning must encompass all aspects of the mission, from predeployment training through redeployment, and include such varied topics as targeting considerations, protecting hazardous material (HM) storage sites, and selecting base camp locations. Environmental considerations will apply to all operations, although a risk assessment may cause their relative importance to vary. This manual is organized to aid commanders and staffs in their understanding of environmental considerations, and it describes how to integrate and apply them through existing staff procedures. Part One, Environmental Considerations, includes environmental planning in the conduct of operations. Part Two, Command Environmental Program, provides guidance on the development and execution of unit command environmental programs.This manual serves as a guide to aid planners in identifying environmentally related issues as they pertain to operations and enables them to integrate these issues into the operations process. While certain tactics, techniques, and procedures identify the way units will accomplish these tasks and vary depending on the situation, this manual provides a common frame of reference to guide commanders and their planners in integrating environmental considerations into the mission.