text: Sustainment Operations During Armed Conflict
  from sustainment estimation tools, higher headquarters orders, and documents such as country studies to
  develop running estimates. A running estimate is the continuous assessment of facts, assumptions,
  constraints, and limitations concerning the current situation and OE used to determine if the current operation
  is proceeding according to the commander's intent and if planned future operations are supportable. Using
  sustainment information systems, commodity managers include information in running estimates such as
  quantity on-hand, quantity consumed, expected quantity on-hand, and expected consumption to anticipate
  requirements and assist in synchronization. Each staff element and command post functional cell maintains
  a running estimate focused on how its specific areas of expertise are postured to support future operations.
  5-102. Current sustainment systems possess vulnerabilities and connectivity requirements that may make
  them susceptible to disruption and deliberate targeting by threat forces, both lethally and non-lethally. To
  mitigate this vulnerability and maintain an accurate readiness COP, organizations develop battle rhythms,
  data cut-off times, as-of times, and reporting times. Soldiers must be prepared to operate in denied, degraded,
  and disrupted communication environments. FM 6-99 includes standardized reports and message formats for
  manual and voice use. The report and message formats help users prepare and manually transmit written and
  voice reports and messages in denied, degraded, and disrupted environments. Each format provides an
  organized template to record, pass, and store information. Sustainment organizations at all levels should
  maintain manual reporting skills and should also be prepared to use alternate methods of reporting such as
  telephone, radio transmission, messenger, or hard copy. Commanders and staffs must also balance the
  timeliness and potential latency of reporting with the amount of time needed to analyze data when evaluating
  unit readiness and combat capability.
  5-103. Sustainment enterprise resource planning systems and associated decision support tools help provide
  near-real-time status with minimal staff effort required to gather and display information from multiple
  databases. Integrating this information with command and control systems is crucial to give sustainment
  leaders and supported commanders and staffs the identical current COP. The value of integrated sustainment
  information systems and command and control systems is that everyone on the network can see and use the
  same reported information to plan and control operations. For more details, see appendix D.
  5-104. Sustainment rehearsals are critical to
  synchronization and the success and Sustainment Rehearsals
  accomplishment of the mission. Conducting • Critical to success and mission accomplishment.
  sustainment rehearsals immediately after • Synchronize the sustainment warfighting function
  combined arms rehearsals ensures with other warfighting functions.
  understanding and synchronization of the • Should be conducted immediately after the
  unit's maneuver and sustainment plans as it combined arms rehearsal.
  traverses the battlefield. It is critical that the • Facilitate understanding and synchronization of
  combined arms team and all elements of the unit’s maneuver plan.
  sustainment are represented and participate in • Participants must include the combined arms
  sustainment rehearsals to ensure all team and all elements of sustainment.
  sustainment commodities understand how they
  integrate with other elements of sustainment to
  accomplish the mission. The sustainment rehearsal helps synchronize the sustainment warfighting function
  with the other warfighting functions to create a shared understanding of the plan.
  REAR OPERATIONS
  5-105. Rear operations are tactical actions behind major subordinate maneuver forces that facilitate
  movement, extend operational reach, and maintain desired tempo (FM 3-0). This includes continuity of
  sustainment and command and control. Rear operations support close and deep operations. At the operational
  level, rear operations sustain current operations and prepare for the next phase of the campaign or major
  operation. These operations are distributed, complex, and continuous. At the tactical level, rear operations
  enable the desired tempo of combat, assuring that friendly forces have the agility to exploit any opportunity.
  Rear operations typically include five broad activities:
  • Positioning and moving reserves.
  • Positioning and repositioning aviation, fire support, and air and missile defense units.
  • Conducting support area operations.
  • Securing sustainment and command and control nodes.