The Mission (Preparing, Briefing, Planning)

Preparing for the Mission
All in-game leadership is ultimately focused at working towards mission accomplishment. Regardless of what the particular mission may be, there are certain common steps taken to go from the slot-selection screen of Arma, all the way into the actual mission itself, with the end goal being a solid plan that has been briefed to all players and leaders.

This section will cover everything involved in the process, from picking slots to planning and ultimately executing the plan. All players should be familiar with the steps involved, and leaders (or aspiring leaders) should pay extra attention to all that is involved.

Mission Designer as the 'Higher Headquarters'
It is generally understood that the person who developed the mission is acting as the 'Higher Headquarters' during the pre-mission setup phase.

What this means is that if the mission leadership has a question that is not covered in the SMEAC order, the mission designer can act as the higher headquarters and give an answer appropriate to what the 'real' higher HQ would be able to say in such a situation. This is helpful for anything that the leadership needs to know that may have been overlooked or unintentionally unclear in the briefing.

Briefing Screen
After picking your role, the next pre-mission step is the briefing stage. During this, all players will have access to the in-game map, the briefing, notes, and will be able to place map markers and text to assist in mission planning.

The mission briefing is designed to give all of the information needed to create a proper plan that can be carried out by the platoon. It is the responsibility of all squad leaders, fireteam leaders, special element leaders, and the mission commander to be familiar with the details of the briefing. Knowing the briefing benefits everyone, as it allows for everyone to be familiar with the 'big picture' of what they are expected to be accomplishing within the mission and helps to unify the entire unit. All players are highly encouraged to read it as well.

Mission Order
A mission order is a 'list' of information that the mission creators present to the players in order for the player to understand some basic factors about the mission. Mission Orders must be created by mission makers in order to maintain a proper and organized way of playing in our milsim unit.

Situation:

Mission:
 * Premise (Background, what factions are involved, what is the big picture, real-world location if known)
 * Our Unit (Player Units, the units players are playing as)
 * Friendly Forces (Other Friendlies, other friendlies, AI, and etc.)
 * Support (CAS, Arty, Medevac, Ammo)
 * Enemies (Composition, Capabilities, Number, Location, Posture)
 * Time, Weather, Civilians (Self-explanatory)

Execution:
 * Mission (What is the actual mission, the purpose etc.)
 * Location (Location of the mission (in-game)).
 * Time Available (Is there any time limits and other time-related factors?)
 * Objectives (Short-list of objectives)
 * End-State (What is the end-goal, the final picture, how the situation should be at the end of the mission)
 * Enemy Expectation (What is the enemy most likely going to do in this operation? What is their suspected plan of action?)
 * Other (Anything else you might want to add in relation to your mission)

Link For Copying the Order for Mission Makers: Link
 * Commander’s Intent (What is your intent as a commander/mission maker, think of it as guidelines for the players, you should have at least some, but you can also go in detail)
 * Mission Plan (Since at best we play as a platoon, and plans are usually made by headquarters, which in this case is you. Unless the scenario is otherwise, a scheme of maneuvers, waypoints and etc. should be made by the mission creator.)
 * Signal (If not specified, we will use Orden SOP, this section covers smoke, flare, code and other means of signaling)

Mission Time Template
For this example we are going to use the standard starting time of our missions, 18:30 CET/CEST and below show an outline of how long a mission should take, and how the preparation phase should look like:

- Preparation Phase (5 minutes) 18:30 - Role Selection (5 minutes) 18:35 - Briefing Screen - SMEAC Briefing to the unit from the Mission Maker. (5 Minutes) 18:40 - - Planning and Issuing Orders (18-20 Minutes) - 18:55 - Step Out and Start the Mission
 * Conduct map recon & make initial plan (5 minutes)
 * Issue orders (5 minutes)
 * Questions & comments (2 minutes)
 * Leaders brief subordinates l Equipment Check (5 minutes)

Total Time of Preparation: ~25 Minutes

Missions shouldn't take more than two hours, unless they are meant to be that long, an optimal mission time (not including the above preparation phase) is one hour and thirty minutes, bringing the total with the briefing, to two hours.