text: Chapter 5
  Sustainment Operations During Armed Conflict
  This chapter provides an overview of sustainment operations during armed conflict. This
  chapter covers sustainment of large-scale combat operations, sustainment of defensive
  operations, and sustainment of offensive operations. This chapter concludes with a discussion
  on the transition from conflict to competition or crisis.
  SECTION I – ARMED CONFLICT AND LARGE-SCALE COMBAT OPERATIONS
  5-1. Armed conflict encompasses the conditions of a strategic relationship in which opponents use lethal
  force as the primary means for achieving objectives and imposing their will on the other. The employment
  of lethal force is the defining characteristic of armed conflict, and it is the primary function of the Army.
  5-2. During armed conflict, operations usually reflect combinations of conventional and irregular warfare
  approaches. Leaders apply doctrine for large-scale combat operations during limited contingencies that
  require conventional warfare approaches. Irregular warfare includes counterinsurgency and unconventional
  warfare. The initial actions of large-scale combat operations will likely overlap with actions initiated during
  competition and crisis.
  5-3. Large-scale combat operations are extensive joint combat operations in terms of scope and size of forces
  committed, conducted as campaigns aimed at achieving operational and strategic objectives through the
  application of force. Large-scale combat on land occurs within the framework of a larger joint campaign,
  usually with an Army headquarters forming the base of a joint force headquarters. These operations typically
  entail high tempo, high resource consumption, and high casualty rates. Large-scale combat introduces levels
  of complexity, lethality, ambiguity, and speed to military activities not common in other operations.
  5-4. Large-scale combat operations occur in circumstances usually associated with state-on-state conflict,
  and they encompass divisions and corps employing joint and Army capabilities from multiple domains in a
  combined arms manner. Irregular warfare activities often complement large-scale combat operations, with
  conventional, irregular, and special operations forces conducting operations close to each other.
  5-5. Successful large-scale combat operations defeat enemy armed forces while establishing control over
  land and populations to achieve operational and strategic objectives. They may capitalize on superior military
  capability to quickly overwhelm a weaker enemy and consolidate gains as part of a rapid campaign. Large-
  scale combat operations against more capable enemy forces are likely to be of longer duration, lasting months
  or longer.
  OPERATING AS PART OF THE JOINT FORCE
  5-6. The Army always fights as part of a joint force, and usually as part of a multinational coalition during
  large-scale combat operations. Because CCDRs often assign the senior Army commander as the JFLCC, it
  is imperative that Army leaders from the JFLCC to division level understand the integration of operations on
  land with those in the other domains for the joint force.
  5-7. The Army supports the joint force by providing the capabilities and capacity to apply sustained combined
  arms landpower through movement, close combat, and fires at whatever scale is necessary to defeat enemies
  on land. It does this by employing capabilities from the land, maritime, air, space, and cyberspace domains
  in support of ground operations on land and employing ground-based capabilities to enable operations in the
  other domains.
  CONDUCTING LARGE-SCALE COMBAT OPERATIONS
  5-8. During large-scale combat operations, Army forces conduct offensive, defensive, and stability
  operations to defeat enemy forces. Defeat of enemy forces in close combat is normally required to achieve
  campaign objectives and national strategic goals after the commencement of hostilities. Divisions and corps