The Strategic Operational Planner (SOPL) wildland fire management position was created in the United States in 2009 to reflect updated terminology. SOPL merges the former Fire Use Manager positions (FUM1 and FUM2) and is now an established position within the Incident Command System. Traditionally, the FUM positions and the SOPL have been used on incidents managed for resource benefit, wildland fire use, and on long-duration events. The use of the SOPL to develop a strategic operational plan on "suppression" strategy wildfires is fairly new, thus, creating some confusion about the position's future roles and responsibilities in incident management. Our intent with this paper and associated poster is to illustrate how the SOPL position can provide value to incident management teams and the agency administrator in the development of strategic operational plans that achieve desired management goals and objectives for an individual incident.