If only you would have understood the indicators and then made a timely decision; much money and stress would have been saved. The same is true in tactics. The Commander who does not understand the indicators on the ground and not make a timely decision can suffer similar disastrous consequences. This is especially true in the offense. The Commander who continues to force an attack after hitting the culmination point will quite likely face catastrophic defeat. If only he had taken the indicators and made the timely decision to transition away from the offense; he could have saved valuable resources (most importantly, the lives of his Soldiers).

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When has your Enemy Culminated?
Earlier, we discussed the criticality for the Commander to understand the indicators of culmination. When the Commander is on the defense, he should be looking for windows of opportunity to transition to the offense. The key piece of this puzzle is to determine that your enemy’s offense has reached the culmination point or is heading quickly in that direction. So what are the indicators a Commander should be focus on to seize this window of opportunity? Clearly, a smart enemy will try to hide these indicators from his opponent. However, some of these are much easier to mask than others. Below you will find some of those key indicators:

• Intelligence determines the enemy is himself transitioning to the defense.
• The tempo or momentum of the enemy attack has dramatically slowed or even ground to a halt.
• The enemy attacks are piecemeal affairs (small groups of vehicles) without any mass.
• Your battle damage assessments (BDA) of the enemy point to heavy losses.
• You assess there is little in the way of command and control and overall cohesion in the enemy attack.
• The enemy attack appears void of any synchronization or use of combat multipliers.
• Your forces are finding little or no resistance during their maneuver.
• The enemy forces you templated as the enemy reserve are intermixed with front line forces.
• Interrogation of enemy prisoners of war indicate culmination.
• Examination of captured enemy equipment or prisoners of war point to their inability to adequately resupply themselves.

Must all of these be present for the Commander to determine the enemy has culminated – certainly not! Nor should the Commander wait until he confirms a preponderance of these indicators. With that said, the Commander must utilize his intuitive skills (as well as those around him) and make a decision. Remember, the window of opportunity can be fleeting.

When have you Culminated?
One of the more difficult things anyone can do is to admit defeat or to put it another way – admit that your ability to succeed is not there at the present time. This is particularly true for the Commander leading an offensive attack. It seems many Commanders cannot give up that glimmer of hope that their attack will be successful. Thus, they continue to force an attack having no possibility for success. The potential result of this decision, as stated earlier, can be catastrophic defeat.

Again, there are several indicators indicating to the Commander that his unit has culminated in their attack or is becoming dangerously close. Below are some of those signs:

• You determine the tempo and momentum of your attack has significantly slowed or even halted.
• The reports from your subordinate Commanders are far from encouraging. In fact, they assess they cannot achieve their mission.
• Soldiers are physically exhausted from the current attack.
• You are receiving reports units are critically short on ammunition.
• You are receiving reports units are critically short on fuel.
• Causalities and vehicle losses are escalating.
• The logistical system cannot keep up with the requirements from the attacking units.
• You have already utilized your reserve and no longer have any forces available to reinforce forward.
• Your intelligence indicates the enemy is receiving substantial reinforcements.
• Your enemy is successfully mounting small unit counterattacks with relatively fresh units.

As we have discussed numerous times in this series, a Commander must know himself (his unit). If several of these indicators are readily apparent, then it is highly likely your unit has culminated in the attack.

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