Consider this hypothetical scenario. Another major training exercise is beginning at the Joint Warfighting Center. This simulation-based exercise is designed to prepare a European-based Joint Task Force commander and his staff in warfighting operations within the combustible European theater. Over five hundred participants have been brought to Suffolk, Virginia to participate. Component staff response cells have been established as far as Fort Hood, Texas to the west and Ramstein AFB to the east. The exercise will result in participants being out of their operational area for over three weeks over a two-month period while planning the operation and executing the exercise. By all accounts this is a very cost effective way to train JTF commanders, but is it the most cost effective? As this exercise is unfolding political unrest in a nation in the US Central Command s Area of Responsibility has caused CENTCOM to go into an alert status. Although intelligence studies have provided the CINC a thumbnail sketch of what he will face should he have to move his troops in country, there is no way for him to model and rehearse potential courses of action in the days prior to deploying his forces.

In-theater training and exercises coupled with a responsive mission rehearsal capability are just two of the major operational capabilities being addressed by the Advanced Distributed Learning Network (ADLN). Joint Vision 2010 clearly states the need for such a capability: Simulations must be interconnected globally - creating a near-real-time interactive simulation superhighway between our forces in every theater. Each CINC must be able to tap into this global network and connect forces worldwide that would be available for theater operations. The ADLN vision is to create a global architecture that integrates and shapes related DoD initiatives, programs, and operational requirements providing the capability for worldwide participation in advanced distributed learning on demand.

Advanced Distributed Learning, with joint training applications and content riding on a high speed, robust network promises to be such a boon to cost effective training it is currently being investigated by every Service and a multitude of government agencies. To date, the result has been the creation of many stand alone and non-interoperable networks, services, and tools. This has led to duplication of effort and a waste of resources. The ADLN program will provide a comprehensive, cohesive, and requirements-based joint training and education capability for the CINCs, Services, and defense agencies. It will leverage existing stove-piped networks and ensure interoperability and seamless transfer of information in the joint battlespace.

This paper will describe the overarching concepts of this global Advanced Distributed Learning Network and how it will be implemented for use by US forces and agencies to increase joint training readiness.