General Charles Brown, Jr. challenged the Department of the AF (DAF) to accelerate change or lose. The DAF and other DoD organizations are tapping into the power of extended reality (XR) to rise to this challenge with respect to training and education. The goal - Transform training to develop warfighters that maintain superiority in mission capability, readiness, and lethality. XR experts and influencers from government and industry share stories at the Beyond the Hype: Perspectives on XR and the Metaverse for Training Next Big Thing (NBT) Talx on what it means to change the training paradigm and how XR-powered immersive training is being adopted to prepare U.S. forces to dominate and win the high-end fight. Discussions include how XR will revolutionize training and enhance the U.S. military’s competitive advantage and will highlight realized successes in application of XR to eliminate skill gaps and instructor shortages. Critical R&D for enhancing XR utility and application will be presented.