Recognizing that future battlefield training and preparation for "other than war" missions will rely more and more on simulators and simulations, unit commanders must incorporate new ways to efficiently use their limited resources to develop effective training plans. Currently, commanders spend hours referring to training and field manuals, training records, unit standard operating procedures end directives to develop how best to train under resource-declining conditions and limited training opportunities. Innovative methodologies must be applied to the planning process to match essential task lists against proper training resources. Also, assessments of previous training events must be fully integrated into the planning process to ensure a unit learns, and returns to train at a higher state of readiness. This paper describes a technology demonstration program being developed by Simulation, Training and Instrumentation Command (STRICOM) called Combined Arms Tactical Trainer Training Exercise Development System (CATT TREDS). The system will provide unit commanders with an intelligent decision support tool to save planning time, enhance unit training options, and automatically apply after-action review feedback in a process applicable to planning maneuver, combat support, and combat service support training, as well as, military operations other than war exercises. Some state-of-the-art technologies such as expert systems, multi-criteria decision making, voice recognition, and neural networks have been investigated for their use, adaptability, and applicability for the tool. Commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) software packages with capabilities to link applications in an object-oriented, intuitively user-friendly manner have been evaluated. Leveraging capabilities inherent in these technologies, software packages, and previously developed databases shows great promise for development of a tool allowing unit commanders to optimize training exercise planning time.