FM 7-15 THE ARMY UNIVERSAL TASK LIST

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FM 7-15 describes the structure and content of the Army Universal Task List (AUTL). It provides a standard, doctrinal foundation and catalogue of the Army’s tactical collective tasks. Units and staffs perform these tactical collective tasks at corps level and below. For each task, the AUTL provides a definition, a numeric reference hierarchy, and the measures of performance for evaluating the task. As a catalogue, it captures doctrine as it existed on the date of its publication.

As a catalogue, the AUTL can assist a commander in his mission essential task list (METL) development process by providing all the collective tasks possible for a tactical unit of companysize and above and staff sections. Commanders should use the AUTL as a cross-reference for tactical tasks. They use it to extract METL tasks only when there is no current mission training plan (MTP) for that echeloned organization, there is an unrevised MTP to delineate tasks, or the current MTP is incomplete. FM 7-0 and FM 25-101 discuss and detail METL development and requirements.

The AUTL will serve as the basis for mission analysis during tactical collective task development by proponents and centers. This manual will be updated on a regular basis. If a new ATUL task requirement is identified or developed by the proponent, the new task will be provided to the Combined Arms Doctrine Directorate (CADD) for approval and input. The AUTL provides the list of Army tactical tasks. Proponents and schools are responsible for writing and defining the conditions and standards for supporting collective tasks.

The AUTL does not include tasks Army forces perform as part of joint and multinational forces at the operational and strategic levels. Those tasks are included in the Universal Joint Task List (UJTL) (CJCSM 3500.04C). The UJTL defines tasks and functions performed by Army elements operating at the operational and strategic levels of war. The UJTL provides an overall description of joint tasks to apply at the strategic-national, strategic-theater, and operational levels of command. The UJTL also provides a standard reference system that TRADOC combat developers use in objective force combat developments, such as front end analysis concerning the capabilities of an objective force element. Each military service is required to publish its own tactical task list to supplement the UJTL. (The Bibliography includes the other services’ task lists.) The AUTL is subordinate to the UJTL.

PURPOSE

The AUTL is the comprehensive listing of Army tactical-level collective tasks. The AUTL complements the UJTL by providing tactical-level Army-specific tasks. The AUTL:

• Provides a common, doctrinal structure for collective tasks that support Army tactical missions and operations performed by Army units and staffs.
• Articulates what tasks the Army performs to accomplish missions, but does not describe how success occurs.
• Applies to all four types of military operations (offense, defense, stability, and support).
• Provides standard definitions and helps establish a common language and reference system for all tactical echelons (from company to corps) and tactical staff sections.
• Uses approved definitions or derived definitions from evolving doctrine.
• Addresses each Army tactical task (ART) in only one location.
• Lists ARTs subordinate to each of the seven Battlefield Operating Systems (BOS) (Chapters 1-7) and the tasks that support execution of the Army’s tactical missions (Chapter 8).
• Provides a table with measures of performance that can be used to develop standards for each task in Chapters 1-7 and generic measures of performance for tasks in Chapter 8.

At the upper levels, the AUTL provides a concise picture of the major activities of a force. At lower levels, it provides increased detail on what the force must do to accomplish its mission.

SCOPE

Army tactical tasks apply at the tactical level of war. Although the AUTL emphasizes tasks performed by Army units, the Army does not go to war alone. Therefore, the AUTL includes tactical tasks typically performed by other services to support Army forces. Chapters 1-7 detail the tactical tasks within each of the seven BOS: intelligence, maneuver, fire support, air defense, mobility/countermobility/survivability, combat service support, and command and control. The BOS group related tasks according to battlefield use. In addition, Chapters 1-7 include a menu of measures of performance associated with each BOS task.

Chapter 8 captures the tactical tasks that support execution of Army doctrinal tactical missions and operations. Chapter 8 is not another battlefield operating system. The missions and operations described in this chapter are combined arms in nature and do not fall under the purview of any one BOS. Commanders, their staffs, combat developers, training developers, and doctrine analysts can use this chapter to determine what missions and operations a given tactical organization is designed or should be designed to accomplish. There are four measures of performance for tasks in Chapter 8:

• Mission accomplishment occurs within the higher commander’s intent statement of what the force must do and the conditions.
• Mission accomplishment occurs within the higher commander’s specified timeline and his risk assessment for fratricide avoidance and collateral damage.
• Mission accomplishment occurs with the minimum expenditure of resources.
• After mission accomplishment the unit remains capable of executing assigned future missions and operations.

Trainers—regardless of their status as unit commanders, unit operations officers, or uniformed and civilian training developers within the US Army Training and Doctrine Command—will use the definitions in these chapters to describe specified and implied tasks of missions in common terms. However, ART definitions do not specify who or what type of unit performs the task, what means to use, when the task will be performed, or how to perform a task. A complete mission statement provides all those specifics. Trainers determine those specifics based on their unique circumstances since ARTs are independent of conditions.

Trainers use the measures of performance provided in Chapters 1-7 as a basis from which to develop standards of performance for a specific unit in specific conditions. Examples of such standards are found in published Army Training and Evaluation Program (ARTEP) MTPs. Those standards reflect the existing factors of mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and support available, time available, and civil considerations (METT-TC). For example, time is a measure of performance for the displacement of a command post (ART 7.1.2). However, a trainer will use a standard measuring in minutes for the displacement of a battalion-level tactical command post. He will use a standard measuring in days for the displacement of a corps main command post. Measures of performance are neither directive nor all-inclusive. Trainers should use them as a guide and modify or expand them based on their experience and needs.

Environmental conditions are factors affecting task performance. When linked to tactical tasks, conditions help frame the differences or similarities between missions. Refer to enclosure C of the UJTL for descriptions of joint conditions.

APPLICABILITY

FM 7-15 applies to commanders and trainers at all tactical echelons and to doctrine, combat, and training developers who develop doctrine, tactics, techniques, and procedures for the tactical level of war. It applies to the active and reserve components.

The AUTL provides a common language and reference system for doctrine, combat, and training developers. The link between planners and trainers helps ensure that forces train the way they will fight. The AUTL also provides a basis for establishing unit-specific ARTEP MTPs. It provides a catalogue of tasks to assist in identifying those tasks that are essential to accomplish the organization's operational mission. The AUTL’s linkage to the UJTL at the operational and strategic level aids analysts and planners in understanding and integrating joint operations.

PAGES: 458

PUBLICATION DATE: AUGUST, 2003

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