NATO's Lessons Learned Capability is key to its ability to learn from experience and remain a learning organization. In the current global security threat environment, it is more important that ever to ensure that the capability is trained, understood, and implemented trhoughout the Alliance.  Last month in July, three members of the JALLC’s JALLC Advisory and Training Team (JATT) recently completed a successful training session at NATO’s Maritime Interdiction Operational Training Centre (NMIOTC).  This training provided essential insights into the NATO Lessons Learned process to 20 members of the NMIOTC, the Integrated Air and Missile Defence Centre of Excellence (IAMD COE), the NATO Missile Firing Installation (NAMFI), and the Souda Naval Base (SNB).

The training session, held from 16 July to 18 July 2024, aimed to enhance the operational effectiveness of the participating organizations through structured knowledge sharing and process improvement. The session covered key aspects of the NATO Lessons Learned Process, emphasizing best practices in capturing, analysing, and lessons identified from operational experiences.  Additionally, students were able to participate in hands-on syndicate work to analyse and develop recommendations to resolve a realistic problem encountered by troops in the field.

Colonel Michael Chatzidimitriou, NMIOTC’s Quality Assurance Manager, thanked the JATT for the instructors’ knowledge, experience, and thorough training, commenting, “This information is very useful and will be implemented in our daily jobs.  All staff should plan to attend future iterations!”

The Lessons Learned training was especially timely for the NMIOTC. Commodore Efstathios Kyriakidis, the Commandant of NMIOTC, underlined that the training will bolster his organization’s ability to prepare for their
re-accreditation process under the Systems Approach to Training.  Commodore Kyriakidis also appreciated that the partnership with the JALLC will help NMIOTC better incorporate insights from real-world operations into each of the 30 courses that NMIOTC offers to NATO’s maritime operators.

The collaboration underscores the JALLC's commitment to supporting and enabling Alliance-wide implementation, sustainment, and development of NATO’s Lessons Learned Capability and NATO’s reputation as a learning organization.  By providing timely, relevant, and tailored training to NMIOTC and other NATO bodies, the JALLC
ensures a standardized and effective approach to learning
is applied across the Alliance.