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NEWS FROM THE FRONT

CPT William P. Abbott, U.S. Army South G55 

Mr. Paul K. Warman, CALL Military Analyst (Forward) at Fort Sam Houston 

March 2019

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Joint Force Land Component 

Command – Synchronization 

of the Land Domain
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News from the Front:

Joint Force Land Component Command

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Photos: U.S. Army South photos taken and released by: Mr. Richey G. K. (Kaye) 

Telemachus, U.S. Army South G3 Exercise Division, Video Information (VI).
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United States Army South

Joint Force Land Component Command Planning Conference

5-8 November 2018

Overview

United States Army South (USARSOUTH), serving as the U.S. Southern Command’s

(USSOUTHCOM) Joint Force Land Component Command (JFLCC), hosts a

conference at Joint Base San Antonio (JBSA)/Fort Sam Houston to plan and collaborate 

on complex mission sets, prioritize resources, establish timelines, and set the conditions 

for current and future operations. Attended by USARSOUTH action officers, army 

section chiefs, security cooperation officers, senior defense officials/defense attachés 

(SDO/DATT), other service component representatives, and aligned National Guard 

State Partnership Program (SPP) operations officers, the meeting has themes that are 

looked at in depth in order to synchronize land component operations, activities, and 

investments (OAI) - critical to contingency preparation within a Combatant Command’s 

campaign plan. The first JFLCC Planning Conference in May 2018 centered on 

“Illuminating the Blue and Green Networks.”

In November 2018, the second conference focused on “Synchronization of the Land 

Domain.” The event brought together key land domain stake holders across the 

USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility (AOR). The focus was on planning, coordinating, 

and preparing to employ land forces in support of the JFLCC Commander’s priority

objectives and activities, in direct support of the Army and Joint Force Commander’s 

guidance.

 

Designating a JFLCC, with an experienced land oriented staff, 

enhances the detailed planning, coordination, and execution of 

joint land operations.

JP 3-31

Command and Control for Joint Land Operations, Page I-9

24 February 2014

Synchronization of the Land Domain in FY2020-2023
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Purpose

To synchronize land component activities enabling the JFLCC Commander to maintain 

land domain situational understanding and coordinate authority for forces operating in 

the land domain. Conference dialog and outputs proved essential to USARSOUTH 

continuing evolvement as a standing JFLCC and may well benefit other Army Service 

Component Commands (ASCCs) designated this role and going through this process. 

United States Army South Aligned with Higher Headquarters

In 2017, USSOUTHCOM directed USARSOUTH to serve as a standing JFLCC in 

addition to performing functions as the ASCC. With its newly assigned mission and 

recent reorganization to execute as a JFLCC, USARSOUTH assumed the responsibility 

of coordinating all activities within the land domain including synchronizing efforts 

across service components.

One of the most tangible ways USARSOUTH creates competitive space within the 

operational environment is by aligning its enterprise priorities with higher headquarters 

guidance. To fulfill the responsibilities as an ASCC and JFLCC, USARSOUTH has 

remained tightly nested to both the USSOUTHCOM and Army Strategies. 

 

In October 2018, the Army published its strategy outlining how the total Army achieves 

its objectives defined by the Army Vision and fulfills its Title 10 duties. Integrated within 

this strategy, the Army mission remains constant: “To deploy, fight, and win our Nation’s 

wars by providing ready, prompt, and sustained land dominance by Army forces across 

the full spectrum of conflict as part of the Joint Force.” 1. “The Army Strategy, 

Army Section Chief, El Salvador

Addressing Conference Attendees
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establishes four lines of effort with specific objectives to chart a path of irreversible 

momentum towards 2028. These lines of effort are: Build Readiness, Modernization, 

Reform, and Strengthen Alliances and Partnerships.” 2. “In line with the Army Strategy,

USARSOUTH published its JFLCC OAI to nest within these lines of effort (LOE), while 

simultaneously supporting the USSOUTHCOM Campaign Plan, in order to achieve 

strategic objectives within the USSOUTHCOM AOR.”

The USARSOUTH builds readiness, lethality, and enhances multinational 

interoperability by prioritizing engagements that will achieve combined readiness with 

our partners in the land domain. To resource and shape the team, the headquarters 

leverages the total Army to build readiness across the Regular Army, Army National 

Guard, and Army Reserve through readiness focused engagements (RFE).

The enterprise supports reform by returning the structure to that of a standard ASCC 

reducing the number of deviations from the authorized modified table of organization 

and equipment (MTOE). The command maximizes tailored research, development, and 

modernization efforts with the intent of streamlining intelligence processes within 

authorities under Operation King Griffin- an exercise employing a layered defense of the 

Security cooperation provides the means to build partner 

capacity and achieve strategic objectives. These objectives 

include:

• Building defensive and security relationships that promote 

specific U.S. security interests

• Developing capabilities for self-defense and multinational 

operations

• Providing U.S. forces with peacetime and contingency 

access to host nations to increase situational 

understanding of an operational environment

ADRP 3-0

Military Operations, Page 1-5

6 October 2017
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U.S. homeland through synchronized Joint OAI. The goal is to increase both border and 

civilian security while simultaneously disrupting transnational threat networks throughout 

Central America.

Finally, USARSOUTH leverages the strengthening of alliances and partnerships at the 

heart of all planning efforts. From operations out of Soto Cano Airbase, Honduras, in 

support of seven interagency country teams in Central America, to increasing 

opportunities for partner nation personnel to attend international military education and 

training (IMET) and participate in the Military Personnel Exchange Program. The 

USARSOUTH continues to capitalize on these initiatives to advance the enterprise into 

the future time horizon. 

Through a robust set of Theater Security Cooperation (TSC) OAIs, USARSOUTH 

supports USSOUTHCOM LOEs of countering transnational and transregional threat 

networks, support national military strategy challenges, and enable rapid response. 

Enabled by a complex data analysis process, the Operations Research and Systems 

Analysis (ORSA) team develops assessments and decision support products to gauge 

the effectiveness of operations within the command. Following the Commander’s 

guidance, as an output of the effects and assessment boards, planners work towards 

synchronizing efforts across the land domain. Synchronization of the land domain OAIs 

is critical to prevent cascading effects with the emergence of external state actors, failed 

socialist states, mass migrations, and narco-terrorist organizations. Through the 

synchronization process driven by the JFLCC for all OAIs occurring within the land 

domain, conditions are set for the United States to remain the partner of choice for all 

partner nations within the USSOUTHCOM AOR. 

The USARSOUTH strategy outlines the Commander’s priorities for readiness of the 

total force, strengthening alliances, building partner nation capacity, and conducting 

reintegration. These command priorities, in line with the USARSOUTH Vision 2023, 

outline how USSOUTHCOM’s JFLCC supports designated lead federal agencies and 

partner nation security forces. Moreover, the vision describes how the JFLCC 

synchronizes events within the land domain and deploys forces across the AOR in 

response to contingencies and other national security objectives unilaterally, or in 

cooperation with international organizations to promote support of regional security and 

defense of the southern approaches of the U.S. homeland.

In order to set conditions for the JFLCC to synchronize strategic efforts aligned with

higher headquarters priorities, strategists developed a structural framework centered on 

six priority operations and activities resulting in a cogent and succinct path towards 

successful execution of strategic objectives. These include: 1) Operation Southern 

Vanguard/Together Forward, 2) Operation King Griffin, 3) joint exercise program, 4) 

operational support, 5) integration and synchronization of the land domain, and 6) 

enable strategic initiatives. These priority operations and activities provide the 

necessary framework on how this headquarters utilizes resources to achieve strategic 

objectives in the long term planning horizon.
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Synchronization of the Land Domain

To combat the growing complexities that exist in the current security environment, Day

1 of the conference had two plenary panels discussing Joint Futures and Competition in 

the Gray Zone. The JFLCC Commander’s desired effects for these panels were the 

integration of concepts across the Joint force into strategic documents and ways to 

improve the enterprise’s capability to compete at levels below conflict.

In pursuit of the aforementioned desired effects, USARSOUTH assembled an 

impressive cast to lead both plenary panels and drive working group discussion. 

Conference attendees greatly benefitted from their experience, perspectives, and 

insights. Serving on the Joint Futures Panel were LTG Eric Wesley, Deputy 

Commanding General, Futures/Director, Army Capabilities Integration Center (ARCIC)

(Now Futures and Concepts, U.S. Army Futures Command); Maj Gen David Bellon, 

former Marine Forces South (MARFORSOUTH) Commander and current 

USSOUTHCOM J5 Strategy, Policy, and Plans; and MG (Ret) William Hix, former 

Headquarters Department of the Army (HQDA), Deputy Chief of Staff (DCS) G-3/5/7, 

Director of Strategy and Plans.

 

Serving on the Competition in the Gray Zone Panel were Mr. Nathan Freier, Associate 

Professor of National Security Studies, Strategic Studies Institute (SSI) and COL (Ret) 

Kevin Benson, former Combined Forces Land Component Command (CFLCC) C/J5 

during Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and current seminar leader at the University of 

Foreign Military and Cultural Studies (UFMCS) at Fort Leavenworth, KS. 

LTG Wesley and MG (Ret) 

Hix Addressing Conference 

Attendees during Joint 

Futures Panel
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Following the plenary sessions, Mr. Drew Blakeney, USARSOUTH Political Advisor 

provided an in-depth analysis on how the enterprise can leverage the means in the 

USSOUTHCOM AOR through resourcing, capability building, and alignment of activities

to achieve national military objectives. Conference participants also received a

USARSOUTH FY 20-23 Campaign Support Plan (CSP) briefing. The CSP implements 

and operationalizes the Theater Army strategy and fulfills planning requirements 

outlined in the combatant command campaign plan (CCP) as derived from the 

Guidance for Employment of the Force and the Joint Strategic Capabilities Plan. The 

CSP provides Commander’s guidance to direct, coordinate, and prioritize plans, 

operations, and activities in the four year time horizon to achieve combatant 

commander objectives. The document serves as the primary linkage between the CCP 

and JFLCC plans and orders that direct activities in support of the campaign plan. The 

CSP also supports key operations and activities of other component commands and 

U.S. Government (USG) agencies to address transregional issues.

The final briefings on Day 1 were provided by MARFORSOUTH planners. By 

incorporating briefings from other service components the enterprise builds the capacity 

to develop and become innovative thinkers capable of enabling strategic objectives. 

The next two days were reserved for planners to conduct mission analysis on priority 

operations and activities with key stakeholders present. The JFLCC regional planners 

provided staff briefings on future operations that served as the main planning effort for 

Planning and consulting with stakeholders optimizes the 

instruments of national power to achieve operational objectives 

and attain strategic end states in support of U.S. regional goals in 

support of global security priorities.

JP 3-08

Interorganizational Cooperation, Page I-15

12 October 2016 (Validated, 18 October 2017)

Insight Vignette: Providing pre-conference planning documents enabled participants

the sufficient time to identify capability gaps within the priority operations and 

activities supporting the JFLCC headquarters
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the remainder of the conference. Readiness Focused Engagements (RFE) provide an 

opportunity to increase the capability and capacity of the total force while advancing 

regional security and stability through interoperability and mutually beneficial training. 

With the support of Army National Guard and Army Reserve forces, USARSOUTH 

innovates defense partnerships with nations committed to human rights, gender 

integration, noncommissioned officer development, and regional security initiatives. For 

example, Operation Southern Vanguard provides a significant benefit to the Army by 

producing live-fire training opportunities for units in the Objective-T Cycle (training 

readiness reporting system) building readiness for Stryker and Infantry platoons, 

companies, and battalion mission command elements in mountain, desert, and jungle 

environments. As a result, the U.S. Army is provided Western Hemisphere access in an 

era of increased global competition and allowed entrée to our strategic partner nations’ 

premier training facilities. Bringing together key stakeholders from around the 

USSOUTHCOM AOR, JFLCC planners were able to effectively identify frictions points 

and synchronize events in the future time horizon.

On the final day of the conference, the JFLCC staff, service component representatives, 

and SDO/DATTs provided a consolidated out-brief to the JFLCC Commander enabling 

planners to receive guidance to set the theater for the future time horizon. Additionally, 

a conference survey was completed by participants with draft results released before 

departing. Feedback from the assembled JFLCC planning enterprise is vital to ensure 

an improved upon product. 

Conclusion

The first annual JFLCC conference, in May 2018, set the conditions for this follow on 

iteration. It established a shared understanding as the stepping stone to 

synchronization. Additionally, the focus of the first conference centered on generating 

an understanding amongst stakeholders for developing the long range planning 

calendar, production of major FY19 exercise concepts, and mission analysis for FY19-

22 regional plans. 

As a result of the second conference, the JFLCC staff was able to gain a more robust 

situational understanding of the AOR in order to reduce redundancies and generate 

efficiencies. The FY20-26 planning efforts for the headquarters will focus on maximizing 

a return on investment and generating other readiness focused engagements. 

Insight Vignette: Integrating theater Army Section Chiefs’ requirements allowed the 

JFLCC to garner the necessary audience required for planning
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In closing remarks, MG Mark Stammer, JFLCC Commander emphasized the 

significance of long range vision, importance of mission command, and value of 

relationship building between staffs. The next USARSOUTH JFLCC Planning 

Conference is tentatively scheduled for 4-7 November 2019. 

Endnotes

1 Headquarters Department of the Army News Release, “The Army Vision,” 7 May 

2018, retrieved at https://www.army.mil/e2/downloads/rv7/vision/the army vision.pdf

2 Headquarters Department of the Army, U.S. Army STAND-TO! “The Army Strategy,” 

25 October 2018, retrieved at https://www.army.mil/standto/2018-10-25

JFLCC Commander Addressing Conference Attendees 

at the Out-Brief
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