FM 3-90: TACTICS

Official US Army Field Manual in Acrobat PDF file format. Doctrine provides a military organization with a common philosophy, a language, a purpose, and unity of effort. Tactics is the art and science of employing all available means to win battles and engagements. Specifically, it comprises the actions taken by a commander to arrange units and activities in relation to each other and the enemy. FM 3-90 introduces the basic concepts and control measures associated with the art of tactics. It cannot be read in isolation. To understand FM 3-90, the reader must understand the operational art, principles of war, and links between the operational and tactical levels of war described in FM 3-0, Operations. He should understand how the activities described in FM 3-07, Stability Operations and Support Operations, carry over and affect offensive and defensive operations and vice versa. He should understand the operations (plan, prepare, execute, and assess) process described in FM 6-0, Command