text: Fundamentals of Operations
  (cid:122) Forecasting when and how to transition.
  (cid:122) Arranging tasks to facilitate transitions.
  (cid:122) Creating a task organization that anticipates transitions.
  (cid:122) Rehearsing critical transitions, such as the transition from defense to offense.
  (cid:122) Ensuring the force understands changes to rules of engagement during mission transitions.
  (cid:122) Understanding potential unintended consequences and the risk they pose to successful transition.
  3-90. Commanders and staffs account for the time required to plan, prepare, execute, and assess transitions,
  accounting for likely friction due to the environment, degraded communications, and enemy action.
  Assessment ensures that commanders measure progress toward such transitions and take appropriate actions
  to prepare for and execute them.
  DESIGNATE, WEIGHT, AND SUSTAIN THE MAIN EFFORT
  3-91. Commanders frequently face competing demands for limited resources. They resolve these competing
  demands by establishing priorities. One way in which commanders establish priorities is by designating,
  weighting, and sustaining the main effort. The main effort is a designated subordinate unit whose mission at
  a given point in time is most critical to overall mission success (ADP 3-0). Commanders provide the main
  effort with the appropriate resources and support necessary for its success. When designating a main effort,
  commanders consider augmenting a unit’s task organization and giving it priority of resources and support.
  The commander designates various priorities of support, such as for air and missile defense (AMD), close
  air support and other fires, information collection, mobility and countermobility, and sustainment.
  Commanders and staffs anticipate sustainment requirements of the main effort as it shifts throughout the
  operation, and they position supplies and capabilities according to the situation. Commanders must balance
  forward positioning of sustainment assets with the need for freedom of action and operational reach when
  weighting the main effort.
  3-92. Commanders shift resources and priorities as circumstances require. While there can be only one main
  effort at any given time, commanders may shift the main effort several times during an operation to increase
  the endurance of the overall force. They should allow time for the shift of support priorities prior to
  designating a unit as the main effort, since shifting the main effort may require movement of resources and
  the positioning of supporting capabilities.
  CONSOLIDATE GAINS CONTINUOUSLY
  3-93. Leaders add depth to their operations in terms of time and purpose when they consolidate gains.
  Commanders consolidate gains at the operational and tactical levels as a strategically informed approach to
  current operations with the desired political outcome of the conflict in mind. During competition and crisis,
  commanders expand opportunities created from previous conflicts and activities to sustain enduring U.S.
  interests, while improving the credibility, readiness, and deterrent effect of Army forces. During large-scale
  combat operations, commanders consolidate gains continuously or as soon as possible, deciding whether to
  accept risk with a more moderate tempo during the present mission or in the future as large-scale combat
  operations conclude. (See paragraphs 6-98 through 6-105 for more information on consolidating gains during
  armed conflict.)
  3-94. The multidomain aspects of an operational environment place increased strain on the ability of military
  forces to create enduring change, particularly in the human and information dimensions. The size, scale, and
  scope of an assigned area of operations (AO) may reduce the duration of effects, just as they dilute the potency
  of combat power. The speed and pervasiveness of enemy disinformation campaigns is a constant challenge
  that contests Army forces’ ability to change human will and behavior. The need to fix and bypass some
  enemy forces during operations designed to penetrate or envelop enemy echelons may leave significant
  enemy threats in rear areas and jeopardize gains made during offensive operations. Commanders therefore
  continuously assess when and how they will consolidate gains as they develop the situation.
  3-95. Consolidating gains at every echelon leads to better transitions out of armed conflict and into
  post-conflict competition. It serves as a preventative against the rise of an insurgency by those wishing to
  prolong the conflict.