Did you know that the JALLC provides vital Lessons Learned support to NATO's Exercises?
In order to ensure that Allied Military Forces from different Nations can work together during an operation (what the military call: Interoperability) and that they are ready and responsive, these forces need to train and exercise together on a regular basis.

NATO Exercises come in different formats including Live Exercises in which actual forces participate and Command Post Exercises or Computer Assisted Exercises which are HQ exercises involving commanders and their staffs, and communications within and between participating headquarters, in which NATO and friendly forces, as well as opposing forces are simulated. All types of NATO Exercises are opportunities for the Alliance to learn what works well and what needs to be improved so that when our Allied Military Forces are deployed to a mission or an operation, they are fully prepared. Analysis and Reporting of the exercise—which encompasses the Lessons Learned process—are included in the final stages of the exercise process, but the JALLC's support to the exercise Lessons Learned process actually begins right at the start of the exercise planning process, which takes about two years from planning to final reporting.

During the planning phase of the exercise, JALLC subject matter experts provide support and advice, based on Lessons Learned from previous exercises, on the specifications of an Exercise (that’s the basic story line of what is going to be practised/tested during the exercise).

During the exercise process, the JALLC also provides Lessons Learned support and advice at relevant milestones where Lessons can and should be captured. Although the JALLC doesn’t actively collect lessons or become part of the Lessons Learned team of a particular exercise, it does provide support and advice to the team, and particularly to the Lessons Learned Staff Officers, responsible for collecting and processing Lessons during the exercise.

The JALLC also provides Lessons Learned training to ensure that those responsible for the Lessons Learned Process during the exercise know how to do it, when to do it, and what to do next. This training is vital to ensure that valuable Lessons are collected from the Exercise, properly analysed and processed, and ultimately learned before the next exercise, operation or mission. This is how NATO ensures that it really learns from its exercises.

The JALLC has a dedicated Support to Exercises team and works closely with our NATO Lessons Learned Portal Management Team and our Outreach and Training Teams to ensure that the valuable Lessons from NATO Exercises can contribute to the Improvement, Innovation, and Transformation of the Alliance.

You can find out more about NATO Exercises by following the link to SHAPE's website page on Exercises & Training [https://shape.nato.int/exercises].