text: Chapter 3
  dimension. Information dimension factors inform and reflect the interaction between human and physical
  factors. The information dimension deals with how relevant actors and populations communicate what is
  happening in the physical and human dimensions. The human dimension is where perceptions, decision
  making, and behavior is determined, and is therefore the dimension that ultimately determines human will.
  Commanders combine, reinforce, and exploit advantages through all the dimensions, expanding them as they
  accrue over time. (See Chapter 1 for more information about physical, information, and human advantages.)
  3-71. During competition and crisis, Army forces set conditions for armed conflict and physically exhibit
  combat readiness through training and exercises which is communicated by various means to create a
  deterrent effect in the human dimension. During armed conflict, tactical leaders typically focus on generating
  physical advantages and the immediate physical and cognitive effects they produce. However, leaders
  maintain awareness of the overall purpose of physical effects, ensuring they commit combat power to
  necessary objectives that produce advantageous results in all dimensions. At the strategic level, leaders focus
  more heavily on the information and human impacts of physical effects and how to convert them into
  desirable policy outcomes.
  3-72. Successful military operations often depend on a commander's ability to gain and maintain the
  operational initiative by achieving decision dominance—a desired state in which a force generates decisions,
  counters threat information warfare capabilities, strengthens friendly morale and will, and affects threat
  decision making more effectively than the opponent. Decision dominance requires developing a variety of
  information advantages relative to that of the threat and then exploiting those advantages to achieve
  objectives. Commanders employ relevant military capabilities from all warfighting functions to create and
  exploit decision dominance.
  3-73. Decision dominance is aspirational, situationally dependent, and always relative to an opponent. The
  goal is to understand, decide, and act faster and more effectively than the threat. It is not absolute speed that
  matters, but speed relative to the threat. Commanders can achieve this by interfering with an enemy force's
  C2 while enhancing, protecting, and sustaining their own C2. An advantage need not be large. A small
  advantage exploited repeatedly can contribute decisively to the success of Army forces. The ability and desire
  to generate a higher tempo does not mean commanders should act when the situation calls for waiting. The
  aim is meaningful—not merely rapid—action. A decision to act is meaningful only if the resulting actions
  by friendly forces create an advantage relative to the threat.
  3-74. Adversaries and enemies pursue their own relative advantages, typically in asymmetric ways, while
  continually attempting to achieve decision dominance over friendly forces. Because threat forces adapt, and
  situations evolve, decision dominance is relative and transitory. Commanders therefore continuously make
  assessments to determine which forms of relative advantage are most important to pursue over time.
  MAKE INITIAL CONTACT WITH THE SMALLEST ELEMENT POSSIBLE
  3-75. Army forces are extremely vulnerable when they do not sufficiently understand the disposition of
  enemy forces and become decisively engaged on terms favorable to enemy forces. To avoid being surprised
  and incurring heavy losses, leaders must set conditions for making enemy contact on terms favorable to the
  friendly force. They anticipate when and where to make enemy contact, the probability and impact of making
  enemy contact, and actions to take on contact. Quickly applying multiple capabilities against enemy forces
  while preventing the bulk of the friendly force from being engaged itself requires an understanding of the
  forms of contact.
  3-76. During armed conflict at the tactical level,
  commanders seek to gain and maintain contact with the Units seek to make contact using sensors
  enemy using the smallest element possible, enabling rapid or unmanned systems first to minimize
  development of situational understanding, and using risk to Soldiers and key capabilities.
  maneuver and fires to attack enemy forces in the most
  advantageous way. Judicious employment of all available reconnaissance and security capabilities is the most
  effective way to make direct contact with the smallest possible friendly force. Friendly forces should attempt
  to make contact with sensors and unmanned systems first, incorporating them into their movement
  techniques. Employment of UAS and other platforms activates enemy systems and enables their detection
  without creating risks to manned friendly reconnaissance and maneuver forces. After detecting an enemy