BiblioScholar Agility: A Key to the Operational Art

FM 100-5 identifies four, fundamental tenets necessary for successful implementation of AirLand Battle doctrine. These tenets are initiative, agility, depth, and synchronization. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relative importance of the AirLand tenet of agility to the practice of the operational art. The study will begin with a brief discussion of both the operational level of war and the future battlefield to establish a general context for further discussion and analysis of the AirLand Battle tenets. The tenet of agility will then be analyzed in an effort to define it and establish its relationship to each of the other tenets within the context of the operational level of war. This portion of the study will include a brief analysis of each of the four tenets and a look at the emphasis placed upon them by the U.S. Army within its doctrine and in practice in its warfighting. The study will then examine an historical case study, the Second World War's 1944-45 Ardennes campaign in an effort to further define and illustrate the relationship of agility both to the other AirLand battle tenets and the ability of a force to achieve battlefield success by controlling tempo. Finally, observations and conclusions with regards to agility and its role in the practice of operational art by the U.S. Army are stated. This paper concludes that operational agility is a critical component for success at the operational level of war. Operational agility is a force capability composed of physical, structural, and cybernetic agility. Lastly, high levels of operational agility are required to generate the initiative, synchronization, and depth necessary for operational success.