text: Foundations of Operations
  1-116. Commanders and staffs identify relevant actors and anticipate their behavior. Actors are individuals,
  groups, networks, and populations. Relevant actors are actors who, through their behavior, could substantially
  impact campaigns, operations, or tactical actions. From this understanding, commanders develop ways to
  influence relevant actor behavior, decision making, and will through physical and informational means.
  1-117. A human advantage occurs when a force holds the initiative in terms of training, morale, perception,
  and will. Human advantages enable friendly morale and will, degrade enemy morale and will, and influence
  popular support. Examples of human advantages include leader and Soldier competence, morale of troops,
  and the health and physical fitness of the force. Forces with a cultural affinity to the population in which they
  operate are also a form of a human advantage. For Army forces, the mission command approach to C2 is a
  significant human advantage that enhances the friendly decision cycle. (See ADP 6-0 for more information
  on mission command.)
  OPERATIONAL AND MISSION VARIABLES
  1-118. The operational and mission variables are tools to assist commanders and staffs in refining their
  understanding of the domains and dimensions of an operational environment. Commanders and staffs analyze
  and describe an operational environment in terms of eight interrelated operational variables: political,
  military, economic, social, information, infrastructure, physical environment, and time (known as
  PMESII-PT). The operational variables help leaders understand the land domain and its interrelationships
  with information, relevant actors, and capabilities in the other domains.
  1-119. Commanders analyze information categorized by the operational variables in the context of the
  missions they are assigned. They use the mission variables, in combination with the operational variables, to
  refine their understanding of the situation and to visualize, describe, and direct operations. The mission
  variables are mission, enemy, terrain and weather, troops and support available, time available, and civil
  considerations, each of which have informational considerations. The mission variables are represented as
  METT-TC (I). (See FM 5-0 for more information on operational and mission variables.) Informational
  considerations are those aspects of the human, information, and physical dimensions that affect how
  humans and automated systems derive meaning from, use, act upon, and are impacted by information.
  (See FM 5-0 for more details about informational considerations.)
  Note. METT-TC (I) represents the mission variables leaders use to analyze and understand a
  situation in relationship to the unit’s mission. The first six variables are not new. However, the
  pervasiveness of information and its applicability in different military contexts requires leaders to
  continuously assess its various aspects during operations. Because of this, “I” has been added to
  the METT-TC mnemonic. Information considerations are expressed as a parenthetical variable
  because they are not an independent consideration, but an important component of each variable
  of METT-TC that leaders must understand when developing understanding of a situation.