Religion and Military Mission Planning - Essay Example

21 September Religion and Military Mission Planning Mission planning is a very intricate process. The planners can’t just throw the dice at random and hope the lucky number shows up. Mission planning is essentially an art which calls for a comprehensive knowledge of a wide array of critical factors which have the tendency to influence the mission in both negative and positive ways. The planners need to assess the ways for mitigation of the potential risks involved. Military missions are governed by a multitude of environmental factors.

In order to make the planning systems more interoperable, flexible, responsive and adaptive to an uncertain environment, military mission planners have to come up with innovative technologies and doctrine. “A mission-planning system may accommodate either deliberate (scheduled) or ad hoc (unscheduled) planning and may operate in either a benign or hostile environment” (Seares). Military missions are planned when there is a need to control certain factors that are influential upon a certain community/communities in the state or the state as a whole.

Most of the times, military missions are planned for the confiscation of property or land when another party, force or country has unjustifiably occupied it. Religion is often neglected in the planning of military missions because there is no religious concern. Another reason why religion has been conventionally neglected in the planning of military missions is the fact that a vast majority of the military missions were unexpected. The military missions had to be planned in a great hurry with very limited resources.

In addition to that, religion has been neglected in the planning process because there is no interlink between the two. Religion lays a code of ethics, whereas there is no consideration of ethics in war. War means bloodshed. In the past, war was inevitable for many countries when there were some that wanted to conquer others. The question was of basic survival, not of religion. So religion was neglected in the planning process. Although religion should be considered in every walk of life, yet there is little, if any, guidance provided by any religion regarding the planning process of a military mission.

Some religions do emphasize upon a need to fight for the right, even if you have to get martyred for that, but there is little if any, guidance regarding how individuals should go about it. Planning requires strategic thinking and thoughtful decision making. It has no concern with religion, except for certain situations i.e. how do militants offer prayers in the battlefield (There are certain religions like Islam that don’t allow to skip the prayers even in the battle field!). So yes, the planners must arrange for the fulfillment of such religious obligations upon the militants.

This can be achieved by arranging the militants in such a way that while the front rows fight, the rear should pray, and when they are done, they must come forward and let the others pray, though if the militants are followers of such a religion that does not oblige them to pray in the battlefield, there is no need of incorporating religion into the planning process. Works Cited:Seares, David F. “Adaptive Mission Planning: Squeezing Out Greater Combat Capability.” Air University Review. 1987. Web. 22 Sep. 2011. ..