5-50 COA WG Brief

Narrator: The COA war game brief presents the commander with the results of the staff's evaluation and war game. The brief discusses the advantages and disadvantages of each course of action and suggested modifications. It may also include: enemy COA situation templates; updated intelligence estimate regarding terrain, weather, adversaries, or local population; wargamed enemy COA; wargamed responses of the population; problem framing and COA development products: higher, supporting, supported, and adjacent commanders’ mission statements two levels up; tasks and intent provided by higher headquarters; commander’s intent for subordinate units; an overview of the courses of action, and the war game methodology used. The COA war game products and results, including the war game worksheet, identification of any additional tasks, the revised COA graphic and narrative, updated event template and matrix, decision support template and matrix, updated synchronization matrix, task organization, branches and potential sequels, resource shortfalls, new RFIs, estimated time required for the operation, and risk assessment. The brief concludes with the commander’s approval of any recommended changes to the COAs before they are compared. He also may take this time to provide guidance for the comparison of the COAs.