Field Manual FM 3-96 (FM 3-90.6) Brigade Combat Team October 2015 provides doctrine for the brigade combat team (BCT). This publication describes relationships, organizational roles and functions, capabilities and limitations, and responsibilities within the BCT. Tactics, the employment and ordered arrangement of forces in relation to each other (CJCSM 5120.01), are discussed in this manual and are intended to be used as a guide. They are not prescriptive. FM 3-96 applies to the infantry brigade combat team, Stryker brigade combat team, and armored brigade combat team. This publication supersedes FM 3-90.6, Brigade Combat Team. To comprehend the doctrine contained in this publication, readers must first understand the principles of the Army profession and the Army ethic as described in ADP 1, The Army. Readers also must understand the principles of war, the nature of unified land operations, and the links between the operational and tactical levels of war described in JP 3-0, Joint Operations; ADP 3-0, and ADRP 3-0, Unified Land Operations; FM 3-94, Theater Army, Corps, and Division Operations, and ATP 3-91, Division Operations. In addition, readers should understand the fundamentals of the operations process found in ADP 5-0 and ADRP 5-0, The Operations Process, associated with offensive and defensive tasks contained in FM 3-90-1, Offense and Defense Volume 1, and reconnaissance, security, and tactical enabling tasks contained in FM 3-90-2, Reconnaissance Security and Tactical Enabling Tasks, Volume 2. The reader must comprehend how stability tasks described in ADP 3-07 and ADRP 3-07, Stability, carry over and affect offensive and defensive tasks and vice versa. Readers must understand how the operation process fundamentally relates to the Army's design methodology, military decisionmaking process, and troop-leading procedures and the principles of mission command as described in ADP 6-0 and ADRP 6-0, Mission Command, and FM 6-0, Command and Staff Organization and Operations. The principal audience for FM 3-96 is the commanders, staffs, officers, and noncommissioned officers of the brigade, battalions, and squadron within the BCT. The audience also includes the United States Army Training and Doctrine Command institutions and components, and the United States Army Special Operations Command. This publication serves as an authoritative reference for personnel developing doctrine, materiel and force structure, institutional and unit training, and standard operating procedures for the BCT.
