About Us

All courses can be tailored in length, content, and scenario complexity to meet the client’s operational focus and training objectives. Instruction can include national, joint, or multinational planning perspectives as requested.

While FMG focuses on the U.S. Navy Planning Process (NPP), if requested we can also provide instruction on the U.S. Marine Corps Planning Process (MCPP), the U.S. Army’s Military Decision Making Process (MDMP), the U.S. military’s Joint Planning Process (JPP), and the NATO Comprehensive Operations Planning Directive (COPD).

Staff Planning Courses are tailored in length to meet specified outcomes and learning objectives.

Introduction To Planning Course (1 Week)

This course is for junior staff officers or personnel new to planning and provides an academic overview of planning fundamentals that are critical to successful planning at any level to include: Critical Thinking, the Principles of War, Operational Art, Operational Functions, Operational Planning Team structure, Planning Dynamics, and an overview of each step of Planning Process. The course is designed to produce graduates that possess a working familiarity with planning fundamentals and the planning process. There is no limit to the number of students.

Planning Team Course (2 Weeks)

This course is for junior and mid-grade officers seeking hands on planning experience. It includes academic sessions as well as a scenario-based planning exercise specially tailored to meet the client’s national security challenges and is designed to produce graduates capable of effectively participating on a planning team and assisting in developing a plan or order. This course can accommodate up to 35 students.

Planning Team Leader Course (2 Weeks)

This course is for graduates of the Planning Team Course or mid-grade officers with planning experience. It includes academic sessions as well a scenario-based planning exercise with an emphasis on the skills required to lead a planning team. Graduates are capable of leading a planning team to develop a plan or order. This course can accommodate up to 35 students.

Advanced Planning Team Leader Course (4 Weeks)

This course is for graduates of the Planning Team Leader Course or officers with experience leading planning teams. This capstone course combines advanced academic instruction with an intensive, scenario-driven planning exercise tailored to complex national and multinational security challenges. Graduates can lead planning teams in complex scenarios requiring integration with joint, interagency, and combined forces. This course can accommodate up to 35 students.

Executive Planner Overview (3 Days)

This course is for senior staff and flag officers who seek a familiarity with the planning process. This course provides an academic overview of the planning process with a focus on the role of Commanders and senior leaders in the process. The course can accommodate up to 35 students and is designed to produce graduates with a working familiarity of the planning process and their role in it.

Executive Planning Course (1 Week)

This course is for senior staff and flag officers who oversee and lead the planning process. The course combines academics with a specially tailored, scenario based exercise that focuses on the role of senior leaders as they lead the planning process and how they can leverage planners to solve multiple problem solving requirements simultaneously. Topics include: Operational Art, Design, Commander’s Intent, Providing Planning Guidance throughout the planning process, Managing Risk, and the Commander’s Decision Making Cycle. This course can accommodate up to 35 students and is designed to produce graduates capable of leading the staff as it conducts the planning process.

Integrated Executive Planning Course (3-5 Days)

This course is for graduates of the Executive Planning Course or officers with some experience leading a staff planning effort. The course is designed to integrate commanders and senior leaders into our Planning Team Leader and Advanced Planning Team Leader staff courses on a periodic basis and can accommodate up to 35 students. The course is designed to produce graduates that possess a sound understanding of their role in leading the planning process and a better understanding concerning the role of their staffs in the process.
(3 days if integrated into the Planning Team Leader Course; 5 days if integrated into the Advanced Planning Team Leader course)

FMG provides educational courses and advisory services focused on organizational effectiveness, structure, and the alignment necessary to ensure successful implementation of defense strategies. Courses and advisory services include.

Organizational Effectiveness Course (1 Week)

Nation’s around the globe face a wide range of threats to national security that emanate from the maritime domain. The FMG Organizational Effectiveness Course is specifically designed to increase an organization’s capability to prepare for, direct, monitor, and assess large and small scale maritime operations to include: Search and Rescue, Counter Terrorism, Counter Piracy, Counter Illicit Trafficking, Enforcing EEZs, Securing Global Maritime Communications, Deterring IUU Fishing, Maritime Interdiction Operations, Protecting Maritime Critical Infrastructure, Disaster Relief, Non Combatant Evacuation Operations, Establishing Credible Presence, Force on Force Actions, Precision Strike, and operating in a contested electromagnetic spectrum. Course length is determined by the amount and depth of instruction on a wide range of topics.

This course focuses on the processes required to plan, prepare for, execute, lead, and assess maritime operations. The course will focus on critical processes such as:

• Components of an Effective Maritime Organization Structure
• Cross Functionality
• Time Horizons: Current Operations, Future Operations, Future Plans
• Battle Rhythm
• The Operations Process
• Planning Process
• Decision Support Tools
• Assessment Process
• Intelligence Process
• Maritime Fires and Targeting Process
• Command Relationships and C2
• Logistics
• Communications and Information Systems
• Key Leadership and Special Staff
• Information and Knowledge Management
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Maneuver
• Multinational Force Considerations
• Interagency Considerations
• Rules of Engagement Process

This course can accomodate 35 students and is designed to produce graduates that possess a working familiarity with these critical processes and the ability to tailor and implement them to meet your organization’s objectives, for example, standing up a Maritime Operations Center (MOC).

Advisory services in this area include:

• Organizational Effectiveness and Structural Development
• Operating model redesign for maritime focused organizations
• Organizational diagnostics and health assessments
• Organizational Resilience
• Leveraging Design to solve complex organizational problems

FMG has unique access to senior leaders from both the military and private sector and can tailor workshops, short courses, and advisory sessions specially tailored to meet client objectives to include objectives to include:

• Executive coaching for senior leaders
• Crisis leadership and decision-making under uncertainty
• Civil-military leadership interface training
• Leadership workshops

FMG possesses centuries of experience using and overseeing significant portions of a global military logistics supply chain. With a thorough understanding that each part in the supply chain relies on every other link, FMG has the reach and experience to develop or improve military logistics integration. FMG has access to subject matter experts in every facet of logistics integration.

Maritime Operational Law Course (1 Week)

Given the nature of the complex mission areas in the maritime domain, from law enforcement to high end combat, naval forces seek to ensure their actions are in compliance with international and domestic law.

Additionally, naval forces need a clear understanding of their authorities and Rules of Engagement to act in accordance with national policy. To assist naval forces in gaining clarity regarding this critical topic FMG offers educational and advisory services to include:

This course includes academic sessions, case studies, and group work focused on the legal issues that arise during the planning and execution of maritime operations. The course will focus on the Law of the Sea, Law of Armed Conflict, Rules of Engagement (ROE), maritime law enforcement, and the legal issues related to the client’s mission areas. This course is offered on site and can accommodate up to 35 students.

Graduates will possess a practical understanding of the legal and ROE issues related to the planning and execution of their nation’s mission areas and can provide accurate and timely legal advice to assist planners and commanders.

FMG offers advisory support to clients seeking assistance in the following areas:

• Maritime law and security, especially identifying and addressing evolving threats
• Maritime domain awareness and the leveraging of different technologies and data sources for analyzing the maritime space
• Countering innovative and emerging forms of hostility including hybrid aggression, lawfare and “unlawfare,”
• Maritime strategy that integrates security, governance and the maritime economy
• Recognizing and countering resource-related crimes, including illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing together with related maritime offenses
• Regulating, governing, and overseeing private security companies
• Certain aspects of international law including the legal regimes around floating armories, protection of submarine cables and the use of force by armed contractors.

Robust national security solutions from national defense strategies to service and individual command strategies are necessary to ensure security risks are being evaluated and security objectives are being met. FMG delivers strategy development at all levels and assesses strategies currently in place to meet pressing national security objectives.

Relying upon centuries of experience in the global maritime environment, FMG is well postured to advise on specific maritime security issues virtually anywhere in the world. FMG expertise in this area includes port infrastructure development and security, force protection, maintenance of the sea lines of communication, sea control, and power projection issues.

FMG former senior military cyber leaders can provide unique insights into cyber warfare and assist organizations seeking to enhance cyber protection.

Space is rapidly maturing as an environment for discovery, for global impact, and for intelligence gathering. Some nations have space capabilities, but every nation has space “equities.” The new “space race” will be about gaining access to spacecraft, orbits, launch partners, monitoring, and control.

Artificial Intelligence has matured rapidly and is entering the military sphere. AI now operates within every warfighting function and nearly every commercial enterprise. Modern militaries will both 'use' AI and 'face' AI on the battlefield.

FMG senior retired SOF leaders can provide unique insights into the training methods, processes, and leadership and operational approaches that have made U.S. SOF a world-recognized leader.

FMG has a unique ability to bring new technologies and advanced weaponry to clients facing unprecedented security challenges in a constantly evolving environment.

FMG provides advisory support in several areas of military operations to include:

• Crisis and contingency planning to include disaster response
• Wargaming
• Scenario development
• Tabletop exercises
• Risk appraisal and management
• C2 assessments
• Contested Logistics
• Cyber Protection
• SOF Processes
• Rules of Engagement development
• Integrating Operational Law into planning and execution

FMG tailors educational curricula to suit the needs of its clientele from military education, including basic training and indoctrination preparation, technical training program development, and mid-grade and senior officer education. FMG also has experts steeped in doctrine development.