text: Fire Support During Competition and Crisis
  Flexible Response
  In Operation Inherent Resolve in 2017, armed Syrian Army units aligned with hostile
  paramilitary forces demonstrated threatening actions against US forces and its
  partners. After significant and appropriate warnings to cease the threatening actions,
  US forces conducted lethal air to surface strikes as a response resulting in multiple
  destroyed Syrian ADA and artillery organizations. The remainder of the Syrian Army
  units withdrew, and the threatening action ceased.
  5-16. Depending on the adversary's indirect fire capabilities, counterfire may also be required as part of a
  flexible response option. FS leaders must develop an integrated counterfire plan as part of operations to
  prevent and to be fully prepared for what may be a rapid transition from competition to conflict. This should
  include the designation of a counterfire HQ and the delineation of counterfire responsibilities among
  subordinate units as well as clearly defined ROE to prevent unintentional escalation. For more on counterfire
  operations see ATP 3-09.12.
  5-17. The CCDR is responsible for setting the theater to establish favorable conditions for the rapid execution
  of military operations and the support requirements for a specific OPLAN during crisis or conflict. In
  operations to prevent military conflict, the CCDR will establish a JTF HQ. Transitioning from competition
  to crisis, targets will be continuously developed, validated, and added to the restricted target list, and the joint
  integrated target list. Army HQ in the roles of JTF or land component commander (referred to as LCC) must
  ensure personnel within their formation are properly trained and certified to integrate into targeting work
  centers capable of basic, intermediate, and advanced target development to the joint standards outlined
  in CJSI 3370.01D and CJSI 3505.01E.
  5-18. Force tailoring is the process of determining the right mix of forces and the sequence of their
  deployment in support of a joint force commander (ADP 3-0). Artillery leaders in the TFC and TFE advise
  the Army Service component command on what types of FA units and FS assets will best meet the needs of
  the CCDR as well as the suggested sequencing for those units into the AO. Regionally aligned forces
  will likely be among the first forces designated for employment by the CCDR. FS personnel at theater level
  should begin coordinating with FA units as soon as they are aligned to the region to begin integrating
  them into potential theater security cooperation or contingency plans.
  5-19. Force projection is the ability to project the military instrument of national power from the United
  States or another theater, in response to requirements for military operations (JP 3-0). As a theater
  escalates towards military conflict, force projection can become a race between friendly forces and the
  potential enemy force to have operational capabilities in theater first. Upon arrival in theater, units will
  conduct reception, staging, onward movement, and integration.
  5-20. The Secretary of Defense established the immediate response force in 2008 to enhance the nation's
  ability to respond quickly to a wide range of contingencies. Immediate response forces are critical to
  operations to shape and prevent. The immediate response force is the Army's designated unit for ensuring
  joint operational access through the concept of joint forcible entry. The immediate response force can respond
  to a hybrid threat in any environment and can execute a wide variety of missions required by CCDRs. Hybrid
  threat is the diverse and dynamic combination of regular forces, irregular forces, terrorists forces, or criminal
  elements unified to achieve mutually benefitting effects (ADP 3-0). These mission profiles include:
  * Joint task force mission command.
  * Joint forcible entry.
  * Conduct raid and direct action.
  * Non-combatant evacuation.
  * Fixed site security and defense.
  * Joint targeting.
  * Implementation of an exclusion zone.
  * Foreign humanitarian assistance.
  * Stability operations.