Notes on Being an Operations Officer

While acting as an adjutant of a Gurkha battalion (bn) prior to the Second World War, John Masters described his job as “preparing the operations orders that would convert the Colonel’s battle plans into exact details— boundaries, objectives, tasks, fire support, troops allotted, and so on.”1 Things have changed over the years—adjutants no longer manage operations, and they’ve been miserable ever since—but Masters’ comment remains relevant today, and conversion of the Colonel’s desires into details is now the purview of the operations officer (Ops O). The creation of a separate position to manage unit operations, the subsequent growth of the Operations cell (Ops cell), and the more recent removal of combat support platoons from the Ops O’s command may indicate that the position is growing in complexity.