text: Fire Support and the Operations Process
  FRATRICIDE COUNTERMEASURES
  3-44. Fratricide countermeasures preserve and conserve the force. During the wargaming phase of the
  MDMP, commanders must identify control measures that reduce potential fratricide situations to an
  acceptable level. These must be incorporated into orders and plans to subordinate and adjacent commanders.
  In addition, rehearsals can be used to verify and modify the appropriateness of control measures and to ensure
  subordinates understand the operation. During execution, FSEs and FA CPs must track the location of
  friendly elements. This is especially critical during rapidly paced advances such as during attacks,
  exploitations, or pursuits. Specifics include:
  * Individual errors are as simple as mistaken identity. If there is a possibility that enemy and friendly
  forces are intermixed in the target area, units must positively verify their identity after detection
  prior to engagement. Weapons errors include lapses in unit and individual discipline that allow
  powder charge errors, accidental discharges, incorrect gun data, and similar incidents. Unit errors
  include errors in the use of weapons-engagement areas or sectors or in using fire control measures.
  * Strict adherence to procedural control measures such as permissive and restrictive maneuver and
  FSCMs. Fratricides can occur when FSCMs are not used and not disseminated. Continuous FSCM
  management reduces the risk of fratricide.
  * Dissemination and receipt of warnings and reports in sufficient time to allow for appropriate
  actions and synchronization.
  * Preclusion of land navigation errors to prevent units from straying out of sector, reporting wrong
  locations, becoming disoriented, or unknowingly engaging targets out of sector.
  * Adequate unit-leader experience. Ensure that junior leaders have the opportunity to gain the
  necessary experience and judgment to make rapid decisions under ambiguous, stressful
  conditions. Crews must be properly trained to increase the likelihood that they will not engage
  friendly forces.
  * Special caution during periods of limited daytime visibility and at night.
  * Judicious use of materiel solutions, using active and passive measures to provide friendly forces
  a unique signature to distinguish friend from foe. These may include marking devices and combat
  vehicle identification systems such as thermal beacons, thermal tape, and navigational aids.
  CLEARANCE OF FIRES
  3-45. The scheme of fires must also provide for clearance of fires. Clearance of fires is the process by
  which the supported commander ensures that fires or their effects will have no unintended
  consequences on friendly units or the scheme of maneuver. Clearance of fires ensures that fires attack
  enemy capabilities at the time, place, and with the effects the commander desires without resulting in
  casualties to friendly forces or noncombatants. It may be accomplished through a staff process and control
  measures, embedded in automated C2 information systems, or through passive or active recognition systems.
  Creating a permissive environment begins during planning and is crucial for the rapid delivery of fires,
  especially during large-scale combat operations. It remains a command responsibility at every level. General
  clearance of fires responsibilities is shown in table 3-2 on page 3-18.