text: Chapter 1
  Figure 1-1. Comparison of insurgent's and counterinsurgent's perspectives of time.
  MISSION VARIABLES
  1-30. While analysis, in terms of the operational variables, improves understanding of the operational
  environment, it does not lend itself directly to mission accomplishment. For operations at the tactical level,
  the Army uses the mission variables of METT-TC (mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops available,
  time available, and civil considerations) to help a unit understand its mission within the context of its
  specific OE. For COIN, civil considerations are especially important. When commanders and staff receive
  a specific mission, or identify a particular problem, they can draw relevant information from their ongoing
  analysis of their OE (using operational variables) to further complement their analysis of mission variables.
  Use of the mission variables, combined with the knowledge of the operational variables, enables leaders
  to understand the threat, act effectively, and anticipate the consequences of their operations before
  and during mission execution.
  MISSION
  1-31. Mission is the task, together with the purpose, that clearly indicates the action to be taken and the
  reason therefore (FM 1-02). At the brigade, battalion, and company level, the COIN force conducts tactical
  operations, across seven COIN lines of effort. These incorporate the five stability tasks—establish civil
  security, establish civil control, support HN security forces, support to governance, restore essential
  services, support to economic development, and conduct information engagement. These tasks are
  described in detail in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. Lethal efforts may include patrols, raids, and cordon
  and searches. Nonlethal efforts may include attending council meetings, engaging tribal leaders,
  or repairing damaged infrastructure.
  ENEMY
  1-32. COIN operations, by nature, involve a confusing enemy situation, since the enemy generally lacks
  a traditional task organization (FM 34-130). Moreover, the enemy (insurgents) can have a varying level
  of training, capability, commitment, involvement, and experience. In addition to analyzing the insurgent’s
  disposition, composition, strengths, and weaknesses, counterinsurgents must identify and understand the
  five elements of the insurgency—leaders, guerrillas, auxiliary, underground, and mass base. Furthermore,
  it is important to understand the eight dynamics of the insurgency—its leadership, ideology, objectives,
  environment and geography, external support, internal support, phasing and timing, organizational
  and operational patterns. Finally, it is critical to identify which of the six strategies—urban, military
  focused, protracted popular war, conspiratorial, identity, and composite and coalition—the insurgent
  is employing. (For more on insurgency, see Chapter 2.)