Stability Operations

Stability operations encompass various military missions, tasks, and activities conducted outside the United States in coordination with other instruments of national power to maintain or reestablish a safe and secure environment, provide essential governmental services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief (JP 3-0).  Military forces may assume this role before, during, and after combat operations, across the spectrum of conflict. In stability operations, the focus is on the efforts of military forces to support the other instruments of national and international power.  These operations require a comprehensive approach to in the complex and uncertain nature of today’s and the future’s environment.

Stability operations encompass many types of operations that are conducted in coordination with other instruments of national power to reestablish and maintain a safe and secure environment and provide essential government services, emergency infrastructure reconstruction, and humanitarian relief, as required. U.S. forces conduct stability operations to deter war, resolve conflict, promote peace, strengthen democratic processes, retain U.S. influence or access abroad, and support moral and legal imperatives. Through a combination of peacetime developmental, cooperative activities and coercive actions in response to a crisis, local stability operations promote and protect U.S. national interests by promoting and sustaining regional and global stability. U.S. military forces accomplish stability goals through both engagement and response. During and following hostilities, forces may conduct stability operations to provide a secure environment for civil authorities as they work to achieve reconciliation, rebuild lost infrastructure, and resume vital services. These operations usually involve a combination of air, land, sea, and special operations forces as well as the efforts of civilian government agencies functioning in a complementary fashion.

In stability operations, the missions assigned to the military are complicated by the fact that it may share the field with a local population and government and also a wide array of other U.S. government agencies, NGOs, international organizations, diplomats, and other foreign entities and individuals. A complex contingency operation is much more likely to succeed if the external actors not only understand the culture of the nation where they work but also have a fundamental appreciation for one another's methods, organization, and culture. Mutual understanding and cooperation is, in short, vital.

The purpose of this section is to give readers a very general understanding of how the military works. It addresses both macro-level issues, such as the military chain of command, relationships among the key commanders, and the role of each service, and micro-level matters, such as insignia and weaponry. To help interpret the signs, symbols, and abbreviations that are so much a part of military life, this section includes a chart showing insignia and a glossary of some of the more common military acronyms (and advice on how to pronounce them).
It should be pointed out that this section is chiefly concerned with the U.S. military. Certainly, much of the general information presented here, and even some of the detail, applies to the armed forces of other countries. Even so, readers should not assume that what holds true for the U.S. military is equally applicable to other militaries encountered in stability operations.

For a more comprehensive discussion on stability operations and operations in general see the Army’s most current manuals at the links provided.
FM 3-0, Operations (https://pksoi.army.mil/Docs/Doctrine/Service%20Doctrine/FM%203-0%20Operations.pdf) and
FM3-07, Stability Operations (https://pksoi.army.mil/Docs/Doctrine/Service%20Doctrine/FM%203-07%20Stability%20Operations.pdf)

These links are accessible from all domains.

Continue to The Organization and Structure of the Military