text: Chapter 11
  * Assisting in disengaging maneuver forces.
  * Suppressing enemy forces.
  * Degrading an enemy force’s ability to move and communicate.
  * Obscuring an enemy force’s overwatching support by fire positions and degrading enemy
  intelligence and target acquisition systems.
  * Reinforcing or closing breaches or lanes in obstacles.
  * Executing FPFs.
  * Screening friendly displacements and disengagements by using obscurants. (This also degrades
  an enemy force’s terminal guidance of precision-guided munitions.)
  * Destroying high-payoff targets.
  * Supporting limited counterattacks.
  11-63. As an advancing enemy force approaches the delay position, they cross one or more trigger lines
  and move into engagement areas within the range of the delaying force’s anti-armor missiles, tank cannons,
  and small arms. Commanders hold their delaying force’s direct fire until enemy forces are positioned where
  their fire plans and schemes of maneuver require their use. They control fires of the delaying forces in the
  same manner as in any defense. The more damage a delaying force can inflict on enemy forces, the longer it
  can stay in position.
  11-64. As an enemy force attacks and maneuvers against a delaying force, delaying commanders
  continuously assess the situation to guide the displacements of the delay force to avoid becoming decisively
  engaged. Units use lethal and nonlethal capabilities from multiple domains to engage enemy forces while the
  delaying force disengages and withdraws from delay positions. Integrated fires and FPFs directed at and in
  front of enemy positions allow a delaying force to disengage.
  11-65. Division and brigade commanders collaboratively plan and facilitate decentralized execution of a
  delay to battalion and lower echelons. Senior commanders rely on their subordinates to accomplish the
  mission and request help when needed. Commanders establish the acceptable risk and displacement criteria.
  Subordinates displace once they meet the previously established delay criteria. A displacement may be a
  preplanned event or time dependent. The senior commander monitors the delay and intervenes when the
  displacement of one unit threatens the survival of another.
  11-66. The delaying force relies heavily on lethal and nonlethal effects to suppress and disrupt enemy
  forces, so the delaying force can disengage, move, and occupy new positions. If a subordinate element cannot
  maintain separation from enemy forces, commanders can shift additional combat enablers and other resources
  to that particular assigned area to counter the enemy forces’ success. As one subordinate element displaces,
  delaying commanders order other subordinate elements to change their orientation to cover the move. Each
  displacing element travels along its designated route, using demolitions as required and requesting additional
  fire support if the enemy force continues to maintain contact.
  11-67. Passing through obstacle lanes during displacement between positions poses significant risks to the
  delaying force. The unit passing through a linear obstacle may become more vulnerable to an enemy force’s
  attack because of the danger of the delaying force bunching up on the far side of an obstacle. Obstacle lanes
  also increase the time required for a passing unit to transit through an area. Commanders prevent an enemy
  force from engaging passing units until they can redeploy into a tactical formation.
  11-68. Reserves and air assets should not be committed early in the delay unless its integrity is threatened.
  Typically, commanders commit their reserves to help a unit disengage and regain its ability to maneuver or
  to prevent an enemy force from exploiting an advantage. Commanders’ early commitment of their initial
  reserves reduces their ability to influence the battle unless they can reconstitute new reserves. Commanders
  that can extract, re-designate, or otherwise reconstitute their reserves can quickly commit their reserves
  several times through the delay.
  11-69. In the delay, commanders balance the location of their force’s sustainment elements with capability
  to provide adequate support and protection from enemy indirect fire. Artillery ammunition stocks must be
  capable of sustaining the quantity of fire support required in the delay. Maintenance operations in a delay
  focus on evacuating rather than returning disabled or damaged vehicles to combat. Units evacuate these