board. It would be a good idea to read some of the standing orders every few months at morning quarters. Where practical, standing orders should be posted so they will be visible to all the team. You should personally make sure that one copy each of the ship's organization book, ship's orders (and regulations), operations department organization book or standing orders, and the Uniform Code of Military Justice are always available in the living compartment. You can secure these books by a chain with the watch, quarter, and station bill. As the leading Signalman, do not make the mistake of having an excellently written organization standing order and then fail to follow through. Require compliance with these orders. Point out instances where failure to follow orders created problems. It is far better to have one good standing order that everyone follows than to have ten that are ignored. Remember that conditions change. You can develop good standing orders and have them obeyed, but they will lose their value or effectiveness if they are not revised as new situations arise. To help you in preparing adequate standing orders, refer to figure 14-l. Note that it bears the number 2-92. That means it is the second standing order for the year 1992. OPERATION ORDERS AND PLANS LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Identify the sections of operation orders and plans. Explain the procedure for preparing operation orders and plans. Operation orders (OPORDs) and plans (OPLANs) are designated to help the signal bridge personnel in performing their duties. This section explains OPORDs and OPLANs. OPERATION ORDERS Before the start of underway periods, all signal bridge personnel should be familiar with the communications portion of the OPORD or the letter of instruction (LOI). The leading Signalman obtains these orders from the communications/signals officer. Due to the few copies available, the needed information may be extracted. At the minimum, a list showing the task organization, schedule of events, and call signs should be on the signal bridge. Whenever possible, the leading Signalman of the ships assigned to the task organization should arrange a meeting for a pre-underway brief. During this brief, information covering visual communications, use of call signs, and drills should be discussed. You gain an advantage by discussing these items before sailing. Changes to OPORDs are issued frequently. Therefore, the leading Signalman must consult the OPORD often to make sure the signal team is kept uptodate on any such changes. OPORDs are issued to effect the coordinated immediate or near-future execution of an operation. They are prepared in a standard approved format, as stated in NWP 11, Naval Operational Planning. An OPORD is a basic plan and usually consists of the heading, body, ending, and (as needed) detailed procedures (in the form of enclosures called annexes and appendices). The basic plan is concise, and contains only details necessary for a clear, overall picture of the operation. Annexes themselves may be short or long. They often have appendices and tabs to elaborate on the many details to be considered in a large and complicated tactical operation. The most important portion of the OPORD (for communications personnel) is the communications annex. This annex gives information on communications that is too extensive to be included in the basic OPORD. The amount and type of information in a communications annex depends on the purpose of the plan or order and on the mission of the command. OPERATION PLANS An OPLAN is a directive for carrying out an operation or a series of operations extending over a large geographic area. The plan usually covers a considerable period of time and is prepared well in advance. The plan may include information on the time it will become effective, or it may merely state that it will become effective when signaled by appropriate authority. The operation plan is the instrument upon which subordinate commanders base directives to their commands covering specific tasks assigned. Usually an OPLAN is designed to deal with some future situation or condition which may or may not come about. For more information concerning OPORD and OPLANs, refer to NWP 11, Naval Operational Planning. 14-4