text: Engineer Planning
  Table 5-2. Army support relationships
  Then inherent responsibilities—
  Have May be Receive Are Provide Establish/ Have Can
  command task- sustain- assigned liaison to— maintain priorities impose on
  If relationship relation- organized ment position or communi- established gained unit
  is— ship by— from— an area of cations by— further
  with— operations with— support
  by— relation-
  ship of—
  Parent Parent Parent Supported Supported Parent unit; Supported See note1
  unit unit unit unit unit supported unit
  Direct support1
  unit
  Parent Parent Parent Reinforced Reinforced Parent unit; Reinforced Not
  unit unit unit unit unit reinforced unit; then applicable
  Reinforcing
  unit parent unit
  Parent Parent Parent Parent unit Reinforced Reinforced Parent unit; Not
  General
  unit unit unit unit and as unit and as then applicable
  support–
  required by required by reinforced
  reinforcing
  parent unit parent unit unit
  Parent Parent Parent Parent unit As required As required Parent unit Not
  unit unit unit by parent by parent applicable
  unit unit
  General support
  1 Commanders of units in direct support may further assign support relationships between their subordinate units and
  elements of the supported unit after coordination with the supported commander.
  Engineers conduct planning at the strategic, operational, and tactical levels. It is important to
  understand planning within the context of the levels of war. The scope, complexity, and length of planning
  horizons differ between operational and tactical planning, yet as echelons of responsibilities have blurred,
  any engineer headquarters may find itself supporting a maneuver unit at any level of war. For example, an
  engineer battalion may deploy to support a JTF or an Army corps at the operational level or a division or
  BCT at the tactical level.
  The engineer planning concepts of the CCDR or senior Army commander focus on the relationship
  between the geography and force projection infrastructure and the concept of operations. Engineer planners
  must determine the basic—yet broad—mobilization, deployment, employment, and sustainment
  requirements of the CCDR concept of operations. The senior engineer commander or the engineer staff
  officer at each echelon must support the development of the supported commander’s OPLAN or OPORD
  and an internal OPLAN or OPORD for the engineer organization. As previously discussed, the engineer staff
  officer is the special staff officer responsible for coordinating engineer assets and operations for the
  command, including engineer planning. The engineer staff officer is normally the senior engineer officer on
  staff, but a senior engineer commander may be supporting the force.
  In planning at every level, the engineer planner should consider a number of the following general
  considerations:
  * Speed. Engineer tasks are resource-intensive in terms of time, materials, manpower, and
  equipment. Practices that support speed include the use of existing facilities, standardization,
  simplicity of design and construction, modular systems, prefabricated or pre-engineered
  components, and phased construction.
  * Economy. Engineering demands the efficient use of personnel, equipment, and materials.
  Practices that support the economy include the conservation of resources and the application of
  environmental considerations early in the process.
  * Flexibility. Standard plans that allow for adjustment, expansion, and contraction will be used
  when possible. For example, forward airfields should be designed and located so that they can be
  expanded into more robust facilities.