text: Sustainment Considerations
  procurement of construction materials and services and repair parts. They must anticipate requirements for
  fuel and for maintenance support and other supplies and services common to all units.
  The planner who anticipates is proactive—not reactive—before, during, and after operations. The
  ability of the force to seize and maintain the initiative, synchronize activities along the entire depth of the
  AO, and exploit success depends on the abilities of the commanders, logisticians, and engineers to anticipate
  requirements. Engineers consider joint, multinational, contract civilian, and interagency assets when planning
  support for engineer missions. They—
  * Use all available resources, especially HN assets.
  * Prioritize critical engineer activities based on the concept of operations.
  * Anticipate engineer requirements based on wargaming and the rehearsal of concept drills,
  incorporating the experience and historical knowledge of all participants.
  * Do not think linearly or sequentially; they organize and resource for simultaneous and
  noncontiguous operations.
  * Participate in and evaluate the engineer significance of each phase of the operation during the
  entire command estimate process, to include mission analysis and COA development, analysis
  and wargaming, recommendation, and execution.
  The engineer staff officer must anticipate likely task organization changes that will affect the flow of
  sustainment to engineer organizations. Additional missions will be created by the sustainment plan (for
  example, clearing a landing zone for aerial resupply). These missions and tasks must be anticipated and
  planned for during the mission analysis.
  Engineers must develop and maintain responsiveness. They must seek to ensure that sufficient
  resources are identified, accumulated, and maintained to meet rapidly changing requirements. For example,
  engineers conduct reconnaissance to identify local materials and other resources that could be used to support
  potential engineer missions. They establish preconfigured loads, pre-position supplies and equipment, and
  ensure that trained and certified personnel are available to support local purchases of materials and services.
  Operational contract support obtains and provides supplies, services, construction labor, and
  materiel—often providing a responsive option or enhancement to support the force. General engineers are
  required to provide subject matter expertise for the supervision of contracted materials and services.
  Engineers use mission-type orders and standardized procedures to contribute to simplicity. Engineer
  commanders and staffs establish priorities and allocate classes of supply and services to simplify sustainment
  operations. They use preconfigured loads of specialized classes of supply to simplify transport.
  At some level and to some degree, resources are always limited. When prioritizing and allocating
  resources, the engineer commander and staff may not be able to provide a robust support package. Priority
  of effort is established while balancing the mitigation of risk to the operation. Engineer commanders may
  have to improvise to meet the higher intent and mitigate the risks. Commanders consider economy when
  prioritizing and allocating resources. Economy reflects the reality of resource shortfalls while recognizing
  the inevitable friction and uncertainty of military operations.
  Engineers must protect the resources they need to sustain their units and accomplish their mission. In
  addition to protecting their own units, personnel, and equipment, engineers must also emphasize security and
  protection for Class IV and V supplies. These supplies are not easily replaced and can be tempting targets for
  enemy action.
  Engineers contribute to ensuring that sustainment means are survivable by constructing sustainment
  bases and clearing LOCs. They may also construct ammunition holding areas and provide revetments or other
  types of hardening for petroleum, oil, and lubricants products.