The New FM 100-5: A Return to Operational Art.

The purpose of this monograph is to examine the development of the 1998 FM 100-5. The primary research question is: Do the changes proposed in the coordinating draft of the 1998 FM 100-5 mark a return to the concept of operational art? This monograph concludes that the 1998 FM 100-5 marks a return to operational art. A doctrinal overview section examines the development of U.S. Army doctrine over the last twenty years. The strategic outlook of the 1993 FM 100-5 marked a departure from an operational focus that the Army had nurtured over the previous decade. The result of this overview is that it shows key changes (characteristics) in the 1986, 1993 and 1998 FM 100-5's. A section on operational art addresses its development and introduces Dr. Jim Schneider's eight attributes of operational art. From these eight attributes, three features of operational art are distilled and presented – size, balance, and comprehensiveness. These three features of operational art provide the methodology with which to examine the characteristics of the 1986, 1993, and 1998 doctrine. The methodology demonstrates that the 1998 FM 100-5 better meets the features of size, balance, and comprehensiveness.