text: Mission Command
  Execute Decision Points
  3-111. The commander and staff’s ability to anticipate changing conditions on the battlefield is key to
  mission success. Commanders and their staffs must see themselves and other friendly forces in addition to
  the terrain, threats, enemies, and adversaries, and the population. Reconnaissance and security operations
  allow commanders to anticipate changing conditions accurately. Cavalry organizations confirm or deny the
  commander’s and the staff’s initial anticipatory assumptions. For example, during course of action analysis,
  commanders and staffs focus on critical events that directly influence mission accomplishment. In addition,
  the commander may identify PIRs that answer the commander’s decision points during these identified
  critical events. The decision support matrix coupled with the decision support template is the result of a
  commander and staff’s ability to visualize the battlefield and identify critical points where transitions or
  decisions must occur.
  3-112. A decision point is a point in space and the latest time when the commander or staff anticipates
  making a key decision concerning a specific course of action (JP 5-0). A decision support template is a
  combined intelligence and operations graphic based on the results of war-gaming that depicts decision points,
  timelines associated with movement of forces and the flow of the operation, and other key items of
  information required to execute a specific friendly course of action (JP 2-0). A decision support matrix is a
  written record of a war-gamed course of action that describes decision points and associated actions at those
  decision points (ADP 5-0).
  3-113. The decisions commanders and staffs must make during the execution of operations are either
  execution decisions or adjustment decisions. (Refer to ADP 5-0 for additional information.) Execution
  decisions involve options anticipated in planning and outlined in the OPORD. Adjustment decisions involve
  options that commanders did not anticipate—they respond to unanticipated opportunities and threats and
  require implementing and synchronizing unanticipated operations. Adjustment decisions may include a
  decision to develop an entirely new plan.
  3-114. Cavalry organizations answer SIRs to support the brigade’s PIRs and decision points. Answering
  SIRs provides the commander with the flexibility necessary for mission accomplishment. During mission
  execution, the staff is continually updating their critical facts and assumptions based on reports from
  reconnaissance and security operations. The technique of using decision points to influence critical events on
  the battlefield highlights the necessity for continuous reporting during mission execution.
  3-115. The location of commanders and their tactical command posts should facilitate the rapid and
  effective decision-making under the anticipated tactical and operational decisions contained within the
  decision support matrix, the decision support template, and updated assessments of the situation. To create,
  identify, and seize fleeting opportunities, squadron and BCT commanders must be capable of commanding
  forward and take advantage of tactical networks (frequency modulation, long-range, and digital networks) to
  confirm combat information, update their understanding, visualization, description, direction, assessment,
  and leadership of combat operations to make timely and effective tactical and operational decisions.
  ASSESS
  3-116. BCT, squadron commanders, and their staffs prioritize information collection activities by providing
  their reconnaissance guidance and intent early in the planning process, establishing CCIRs, and updating
  information requirements based on changing battlefield conditions as reported by their Cavalry organizations.
  While doing so, commanders and their staffs must ensure that the CCIRs directly inform decisions associated
  with their scheme of maneuver to provide flexibility and agility as they develop the situation and determine
  the disposition, intent, and capabilities of enemy organizations. Commanders and staffs must aggressively
  seek higher echelons’ collection of, and answers to, the information requirements as well as identify the time
  sensitivity of their CCIRs with the LTIOV and resulting decisions to ensure timely decision-making.
  MAINTAINING SITUATIONAL UNDERSTANDING
  3-117. Successful operations demand timely and effective decisions based on available information
  provided by effective reconnaissance and security operations. As a result, commanders and staffs must build
  and maintain situational understanding throughout the operations process. Situational understanding is the
  product of applying analysis and judgment to relevant information to determine the relationship among the
  operational and mission variables (ADP 6-0). Building and maintaining situational understanding is essential