text: Engineer Planning
  standards. Opportunities in the form of existing military installations and other infrastructure
  might be added. The engineer view includes a necessarily robust and growing understanding of
  engineering capabilities in a context of unified action within this variable of the OE.
  * Economic. The economic variable encompasses individual behaviors and aggregate phenomena
  related to the production, distribution, and consumption of resources. The engineer view might
  add challenges associated with the production or availability of key materials and resources.
  Opportunities in the form of potential for new or improved production facilities might be added.
  * Social. The social variable describes the cultural, religious, ethnic makeup, and social cleavages
  within an OE. The engineer view might add challenges associated with specific cultural or
  religious buildings or installations, the impact of language barriers or availability of laborers, and
  qualified local engineer resources. Opportunities in the form of potential to provide for culturally
  related building requirements might be a consideration.
  * Information. This variable describes the nature, scope, characteristics, and effects of individuals,
  organizations, and systems that collect, process, disseminate, or act on information. Engineers
  assist the commander by providing information and influencing activities to shape the OE by
  improving infrastructure and services for the population. The engineer must consider how
  construction projects, especially in stability, ultimately support informational themes that are
  consistent with friendly military goals and actions and how the enemy might portray them. The
  engineer view might also add challenges associated with deficiencies in the supporting
  architecture, to include power considerations.
  * Infrastructure. Infrastructure comprises the basic facilities, services, and installations needed for
  the functioning of a community or society. The engineer view might add challenges associated
  with specific deficiencies in the basic infrastructure. Opportunities in the form of access to existing
  infrastructure, improvements to existing infrastructure, and new projects might be added. The
  engineer view provides for a detailed understanding of infrastructure by using sewage, water,
  electricity, academics, trash, medical, safety, and other considerations. Infrastructure is not limited
  to the physical structures. Personnel, training, and maintenance procedures are also considerations.
  See ATP 3-34.40 and ATP 3-34.81 for additional information.
  * Physical environment. The defining factors are urban settings (super-surface, surface, and
  subsurface features) and other types of complex terrain, weather, topography, hydrology, and
  environmental conditions. An enemy may try to counteract U.S. military advantages by operating
  in urban or other complex terrain requiring greater engineer effort to provide the freedom of action.
  The engineer view might add challenges associated with natural and man-made obstacles. Insights
  into environmental considerations are also a concern. See ATP 3-34.5 for additional information
  environmental considerations. Opportunities in the form of existing routes, installations, and
  resources might be added. The engineer view supports a broad understanding of the physical
  environment through geospatial engineering. Geospatial engineering is discussed in detail in ATP
  3-34.80 and JP 2-03.
  * Time. The variable of time influences military operations within an OE in terms of the decision
  cycles, operational tempo, and planning horizons. The duration of an operation may influence
  engineer operations in terms of whether to pursue permanent or nonpermanent base camp solutions
  for facilities and infrastructure. The CCDRs establish base camp strategy that is tailored to the
  joint operational area based on an assessment of the situation, unique characteristics of the region,
  and anticipated duration.
  Mission Variables
  While an analysis of the OE using the operational variables improves situational understanding, when
  commanders receive a mission, they require a mission analysis focused on the specific situation. The Army
  uses the mission variables as the categories of relevant information used for mission analysis. Similar to the
  analysis of the OE using the operational variables, the engineer uses the mission variables to seek the shared
  common understanding from an engineer perspective.
  The following are some examples of the engineer perspective for each of the mission variables: