DWH

CHAPTER 1

AFP DOCTRINES

Section 1-1 Purpose and Scope

1.      Purpose.             The Armed Forces Philippines (AFP) Doctrine Writing Handbook is designed to inform and instruct its readers/users, particularly members of Project Management Teams (PMTs) and doctrine writers,  on how to write AFP doctrine publications.

2.      Scope. In addition to defining doctrine and military doctrine and introducing the AFP doctrine development strategy and process, the AFP Doctrine Writing Handbook covers the research plan, the writing of doctrines (including the elements of style such as readability, punctuation, subject-verb agreement, and others) and the citation of sources, as well as the cover design,   and the writing of the preliminary pages and annexes of AFP doctrine publications.

Section 1-2 Definition of Doctrine and Military Doctrine

1. Definition of Doctrine.   Doctrine is a body of principles in any branch of knowledge that is set forth as a speculative and/or self-evident truth, or as speculative working principles as taught or recommended for acceptance by others.  It is based on an accumulation of knowledge gained through experience, study, analysis, test and validation.                                                   

2. Definition of Military Doctrine. Military doctrine is officially believed and taught as the best way to conduct military affairs. It is an authoritative statement of principles for the employment of military resources designed for continuing applicability in war and in peace.

Section 1-3 The AFP Doctrine Development Strategy

and the Doctrine Development Process

1.      AFP Doctrine Development Strategy

a.      The interim AFP Doctrine Development Strategy (AFPDDS) was formulated in compliance to AFP policies contained in the earlier promulgated AFP Doctrine Development Manual, s-2011 (AFPM 8-01). It is also a deliverable of the Philippine Defense Reform Program.  More importantly, it serves to “ … complement, support and reinforce all the components of the AFP modernization efforts” as it is “specifically aimed at validating and revising existing doctrines and formulating new ones in anticipation of changes in strategic, operational, and tactical procedures”. 

b.      The AFPDDS counts among the ways through which the means, that is AFP doctrines, will be developed and employed to attain the ends, referring to the conduct by the AFP of doctrine-led and strategy-driven processes and operations that shall, in turn, lead to the achievement of the AFP mission, which is “to protect the people and secure the sovereignty of the State, and the integrity of the national territory”.

c.      The Strategy will enable the country’s armed forces to be continuously relevant, competent and flexible. It shall be implemented following an indicative albeit time-bounded roadmap that reflects the various activity milestones and target outputs. It is both a plan and a monitoring tool.

2.      AFP Doctrine Development Process (recommended that be deleted)

Contained in AFPM 8-01, the AFP Doctrine Development Process seeks to standardize and institutionalize the doctrine development process toward the efficient formulation of doctrines that respond to the needs of the AFP. It consists of five (5) phases whose activities range from needs determination and the preparation of the Proponent Advice (PAd) for the proposed doctrine publication/manual project to approval and promulgation.

              Figure 3.1 The AFP Doctrine Development Cycle

a.      As early as the first phase, Planning and Initiation, Proponents are assisted by the AFPDDC in the preparation of their PAds to facilitate presentation to and approval by the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Education and Training, OJ8.

b.      During the Research and Development (R & D) phase, the Writer’s Draft produced by the Project Management Team (PMT) and the doctrine writers is submitted for approval to the Proponent through the Unit Doctrine Officer (UDO).  The approved Writer’s Draft is renamed the Proponent-Cleared Draft (PCD), and is endorsed to the AFPDDC. In case of disapproval of the Writer’s Draft, it is returned to the PMT and the doctrine writers, who revise the draft and resubmit the same to the Proponent. The review-for-approval activity is repeated until the Writer’s Draft is approved by the Proponent. The AFP Doctrine Writing Handbook is focused on the R & D phase of the AFP Doctrine Development Process and is aimed at easing the doctrine writing tasks of the Project Officers, Project Management Teams (PMTs) and doctrine writers.

c.      The Test and Evaluation and Validation  (TEV) phase consists of the conduct of TEV with the assistance of the AFPDDC, the incorporation by the PMT of the TEV results into the PCD, and the resubmission of the revised PCD to the AFPDDC by the PMT.

d.      In the case of PCDs that are assessed as doctrine publications/manuals and now designated as Interim, proponents are given a three (3)-month period during which the doctrine publications/manuals are used, recommendations submitted by users to enhance the concepts and procedures contained therein are given due course, and their promulgation recommended by the concerned commanders/ chiefs of units/offices.

e.      The GHQ Directive on Streamlined AFP Doctrine Approval and Promulgation issued on 24 April 2007 is implemented during the Approval and Promulgation phase. It provides the policies on the delineation of authority to streamline the approval and promulgation of AFP doctrines.

f.        Where the tested and evaluated PCD is found satisfactory based on the established parameters and requirements of the Executive Committee (EXECOM) of the AFP Doctrines Board (AFPDB) and of the AFPDB, itself, the latter then endorses the (tested and evaluated) PCD to the Chief of Staff (CSAFP) for approval. This GHQ directive provides that the Chief of Staff (CSAFP) shall approve and promulgate joint and major services basic doctrines, as well as AFP functional doctrines and the operational doctrines of AFPWSSUs and GHQ offices. Moreover, he shall also be the approving authority for the basic and strategic doctrines that will be promulgated by the Secretary of National Defense. The Major Service Commanders shall approve the operational doctrines of the Major Services and subordinate units, as well as the tactical and functional doctrines of the Major Services and units; commanders of the AFPWSSUs and the Unified Commands shall approve the tactical doctrines of the AFPWSSUs and UCs; and the commanders/chiefs/heads of GHQ offices shall approve the technical doctrines and the systems and procedures of units/offices.

g.      At the Publication, Application and Review phase, the AFPDDC informs the Proponent of the approval and promulgation of the doctrine publication/manual and causes the printing and distribution of the said publication.  With the Proponent, the AFPDDC consolidates the feedback on the distributed and applied publications for consideration in the immediate revision or during the prescribed review to be conducted four (4) years after promulgation. In the event that revisions are necessary, the Proponent prepares the PAd which shall then go through all the doctrine development phases earlier discussed. Otherwise, the AFPDDC shall prepare and submit the recommendations to the AFPDB, which shall, in turn, recommend to the CSAFP the continued use of the doctrine publication/manual.

Advocacy and training and application and continuous validation are important in order to instill mastery among the doctrine publication/manual users, and to validate the performance of these publications, respectively.

Section 1-4 Definition of Doctrine Writing

a.      AFP doctrine writing is the recording and presentation of the various military concepts, current conditions, and procedures and practices for the purpose of formalizing, testing and evaluating, and approving said concepts. It entails writing, which includes language in the form of letters, symbols, and words, as well as figures and illustrations,  and composing, revising, editing, and publishing.

b.      It is performed in compliance with the current rules of grammar and citation, the prescribed format (Annex A - AFP Doctrine Format), and proper language, including non-discriminatory language as defined in DND Circular Nr 01 dtd 22 Feb 2011 Subject: Use of Non-Sexist Language in All Official Documents, Communications, and Issuances in the DND (Annex B).

c.      Doctrine writing is the second step of the Research and Development phase of the AFP Doctrine Development Process. It comes after the “Research” and before the “Proponent-Cleared Draft” steps in the Doctrine Development Cycle shown in page 1-2.  

The vision of the total AFP doctrine development effort is the conduct by

the AFP of doctrine-led and strategy-driven processes and operations. Altogether, the AFP Doctrines Development Strategy (AFPDDS) and the AFP Doctrine Development Process, together with the AFP Doctrine Writing Handbook, are essential means of achieving this vision.