Establish the Twenty-First Century National Training Center

Prior to World War II, the Army conducted the Louisiana Maneuvers, which provided the opportunity to evaluate new equipment, new concepts of operation, and the people that would lead the rapidly growing Army. From 1939 to 1941, the Army was able to modernize and begin creating combat ready units under the War Department’s Protective Mobilization Plan.¹ A key element of this plan was the multi-corps field maneuvers that took place in May of 1940 and from August through November 1941.² Army leaders used the insights from the maneuvers to transform into a modern combat force. However, the insights were not limited to understanding the role of technology in future war. Similar to the way the Department of Defense uses the DOTMLPF-P³ modernization approach today, the Army used the maneuvers to develop doctrine, training standards, and organizations that would enable further rapid expansion. Also, the maneuvers provided the Army with a deeper understanding of the quality of the officer corps, which allowed for informed talent management when deciding which officers should be promoted and which should be retired.⁴

In concert with the development of AirLand Battle doctrine, the Army established the National Training Center (NTC) in the California Mojave Desert at Fort Irwin. Following the Vietnam conflict, the Army recognized how inadequate its home station training facilities were in preparing large units for combat. Beyond just a facilities problem, events such as the 1973 Arab-Israeli War sparked action to ensure deployable units conducted training in as close to combat conditions as possible. The concept of a dedicated training center “where Army battalion-sized units could engage an opposing force in a realistic battlefield environment” gained traction in the mid-1970s.⁵ By 1984, the National Training Center had conducted three years of full operations, trained 50 battalions, and fulfilled the original concept. “The NTC had also begun to demonstrate an impressive potential for the validation of training, doctrine, equipment, organization, and readiness.”⁶ More than anything else, the NTC became the place where the Army was able to iterate and experiment with its new weapon systems and AirLand Battle doctrine.

Over time, the Army expanded the dedicated training center concept to Fort Polk, Louisiana (the Joint Readiness Training Center) and Hohenfels, Germany (now known as the Joint Multinational Readiness Center). In addition to the three physical training centers, the Army uses the Mission Command Training Program, headquartered at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, to train higher headquarters staffs on operations that require echelons above a brigade.⁷ Collectively, these sites and organizations are known as the Army’s Combat Training Centers (CTCs).

The history and success of the maneuvers within the Protective Mobilization Plan and the success of the CTCs inspired Gen. Gordon Sullivan, chief of staff of the Army from 1991 to 1995, to initiate a modern Louisiana Maneuvers program. Sullivan, having witnessed the Army’s recent performance in both Panama (Operation Just Cause) and Kuwait (Operation Desert Storm), recognized the need to adapt to a post-Cold War environment and used the modern Louisiana Maneuvers as a tool to conduct “iterative experimentation that would make extensive use of computer-based simulations to test proposed doctrine, procedures, organizations, and equipment.”⁸ Sullivan used this initiative to chart a course for the Army to modernize as it entered the 21st century. Eventually, the modernization initiative became known as Force XXI.

Today, one of the eight CFTs represents the new “place” for experimentation. Similar to the way the CTCs enabled the Army to experiment with AirLand Battle in the 1980s, the Synthetic Training Environment CFT will develop a capability that allows Soldiers to experiment with new equipment, capabilities, and organizations during the type of conditions outlined in the MDO concept.⁹ Simulations will never replace a live training environment, and yet, without a modernized simulated environment, the Army will miss opportunities to prepare for the changes in warfare today and ten years from now. More specifically, the scale and distance of armed conflict outlined in the MDO concept exceeds the capacity of even the largest physical combat training centers. Incorporating cannons that can fire a thousand miles or electronic warfare jammers that interfere with all parts of the electromagnetic spectrum create challenges with realistic field training. The training ranges that currently satisfy these capabilities are not adequate to provide training opportunities at the frequency needed for brigades to remain ready for combat. For the scenarios outlined in the MDO concept, only a modern simulated environment will ensure the Army achieves convergence.

The Army established the six modernization priorities in October 2017. The Synthetic Training Environment is a CFT embedded in the Soldier Lethality priority, currently number six on the list. Commanders and their staffs know that it is prudent to periodically revisit their priorities and assumptions in order to ensure they remain valid. As the two-year mark for establishing the priorities gets closer, the Army should review the six modernization priorities, expand the list to include the Synthetic Training Environment and Assured Position, Navigation, and Timing CFTs, and objectively consider the Synthetic Training Environment as the number one priority for Army modernization.

The Synthetic Training Environment represents the twenty-first century equivalent of the National Training Center. The days when three Army corps could fight simulated battles on private property across multiple states are far behind us. The tenets of MDO demand that the Army of 2028 have a world-class training environment that allows leaders to both focus on traditional small unit tactics and also on multi-division operations across all five military domains. Putting the Synthetic Training Environment at or near the top of a revised modernization priority list makes sense as the Army takes a broad approach to modernization.

Immediate Tasks:

• Review progress and revise the modernization priorities (SECARMY / CSA)
• Establish the synthetic training environment as the top modernization priority (SECARMY / CSA)
• Initiate the twenty-first century Louisiana Maneuvers (SECARMY / CSA)