Q&A: Dr. Paul W. Mayberry

Joint Training Leader
Moving Forward with the Quadrennial Defense Review



Dr. Paul W. Mayberry
Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Readiness

Dr. Paul W. Mayberry is the Department of Defense’s focal point on all issues and activities related to readiness and training of U.S. armed forces. He develops and oversees policies and programs to ensure U.S. forces stand ready for all missions as assigned by the president and the secretary of defense. He is leading DoD-wide initiatives that include the Defense Readiness Reporting System, the Training Transformation Program, sustainable military training ranges, the Advanced Learning (ADL) program, and the implementation of the secretary of defense’s 50-percent mishap reduction goal.

Prior to his current appointment, he served in several key roles throughout the DoD. Most recently, he was the executive director for the Secretary of Defense’s review of military morale and quality of life. He also has served as the special assistant to the Under Secretary of the Army, contributing to the development and implementation of the Army’s transformation vision and strategy. Dr. Mayberry was the director for Manpower and Training in the Department of the Navy, overseeing the policies and programs for the Navy and Marine Corps recruiting efforts. Prior to these assignments he had a distinguished career with the Center for Naval Analyses, where he completed two field assignments as an operations analyst with the Navy and Marine forces in the Pacific Fleet.

Mayberry was interviewed by MT2 Editor-at-Large Marty Kauchak

Q: How is the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review [QDR] influencing Training Transformation [T2]?

A: The QDR has influenced our T2 efforts in at least three ways. First, the QDR validated the transformational focus, outcomes and successes of T2. Second, the QDR expanded the T2 coverage. Third, the QDR extended the T2 audience.

The QDR confirmed the value and outcomes of our three fundamental capabilities that focus on better enabling joint operations from a collective and unit perspective [Joint National Training Capability—JNTC], from an individual perspective [Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability—JKDDC], and from an assessment perspective [Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability— JAEC]. All participants have recognized the T2 Business Model as an effective means of managing this complex joint program. Collaborative, transparent and incentives-based, the T2 structure has resulted in enhanced joint training, priorities for addressing emerging mission sets, and exploitation of distributed virtual and constructive technologies. The T2 business model will be the basis for conducting a Joint Training Program Review this summer to address new joint mission areas, to identify gaps in existing training/ education efforts and to continue to press for transformational learning initiatives.

This program review will stem from the recently approved Training Transformation Strategic Plan—a comprehensive review chartered by the QDR. This strategic plan stretches the T2 coverage beyond its previous limits to be globally and persistently available, to address new and emerging joint challenges associated with irregular warfare and integrated operations [coalition, multinational, interagency, intergovernmental, non-government organizations], and to step up to the issue of creating adaptable, agile individuals, units and staffs to deal in uncertain environments.

Training transformation must also be broadened to capture the complete cast of characters involved in today’s complex operations. This audience extends beyond the traditional military audience of all services composed of their active and Reserve components to also include DoD civilians and better understand the contractor work force capabilities. As noted in expanded content areas, the QDR also requires that we work towards expanding, not only partner capabilities, but also their capacities. To accomplish this QDR-mandated activity, we will work collaboratively with our two strategic partners—Joint Forces Command [JFCOM] and the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [J7]—as well as our primary customers— the Combatant Commands [COCOMs] and services.

Q: How has DoD training changed since your last interview with MT2 (Summer 2003)?

A: Two areas come to mind. First, I am reminded of how we changed the bumper sticker of the T2 Program to “We must train as we operate” [vice fight]. To succeed, we are further expanding our T2 definition of “joint” from the services to integrated operations, and by this I mean, with our interagency, intergovernmental and multinational partners. Let me provide two examples of our contemporary operating environment.

During the September 2005 Hurricane Katrina relief and recovery operations, our active and Reserve components operated alongside service members from Mexico, Canada, Singapore and eight other nations which contributed direct and indirect military support. We also worked with representatives of the Red Cross and many of the 120 nongovernmental and private volunteer organizations (NGOs and PVOs) which offered to assist the citizens in those affected states. Overseas, our service men and women operate alongside forces from Australia, the United Kingdom and 25 other member nations of the Multi-National Force-Iraq [MNF-I] coalition. To better prepare our men and women for these operations, we are continuing to insert, when and where appropriate, joint context into service training events.

Second, DoD is increasing the fidelity of its training events so that our service men and women do not experience a joint task for the first time on the battlefield. Our JNTC events are being built as mission rehearsals for deploying forces as they prepare to assume the mantle of leadership for MNF-I and other operations.

I have witnessed a significant increase in the fidelity of our training during my visits to JNTC events—starting with the initial event in January 2004 at the Joint National Training Center and continuing through Exercise Unified Endeavor [UE] 06-1 this past fall, which prepared the Army’s 10th Mountain Division headquarters and staff to head Combined Joint Task Force [CJTF]-76.

At UE 06-1, the 10th Mountain Division leadership worked with NATO, coalition, Afghan and non-governmental organizations during each phase of the exercise, with over 80 organizations involved in total. Through JNTC, it is now routine to have role players representing the media, non-governmental organizations, and even actual native Iraqi or Afghan social and political leaders as well as from their military units, participate as part of JNTC scenarios.

We believe this is a real success story. We are succeeding and making a difference in preparing our forces for complex joint operations. During a visit to Afghanistan in 2005, I had an opportunity to meet with Major General Jason Kamiya, the operational commander of CJTF-76. He told me that a JNTC-supported mission rehearsal exercise helped prepare both him and his staff for the rigors of that deployment. Similarly, General Lance Smith, Commander, JFCOM, recalled: “Lieutenant General Pete Chiarelli, Commander, Multi-National Corps-Iraq, recently returned to Iraq and told me that his people are arriving trained to the 85 percent level of what they actually encountered—they hit the ground running. That level of training is probably the top end in such a dynamic and changing environment.”

Q: You mentioned JNTC, please update us on progress in that capability.

A: The capability remains under the management oversight of one of our main T2 partners, JFCOM, and is focused on preparing our units and staffs to train like they will operate with COCOMs, services, and government agencies. We achieved Initial Operational Capability [IOC] in 2004 and since then, we have evolved from an event-centric construct to a program-centric process. This revectoring of the JNTC program has allowed us to extend the reach and number of Service and COCOM training events that JNTC impacts. Beginning with a base of only four JNTC events in 2004, JFCOM expects to conduct more than 50 JNTC-supported events in 2006 growing to more than 100 for 2007.

The underlying engine behind the program-centric approach is JFCOM’s accreditation and certification of service and COCOM major training events. These efforts are allowing us to insert validated jointness into service, COCOM and component exercises [through accreditation], and certify that training venues and their supporting infrastructure systems are capable of hosting JNTC events. We have accredited 12 programs and expect to complete 23 by year’s end.

JNTC has added overseas venues in Europe [European Command] and Hawaii [Pacific Command]. One near-term effort includes expanding JNTC to Australia’s Joint Combined Training Center, which we expect to incorporate into the FY07 Talisman Saber exercise. To achieve a persistent and global reach, we are investing in a Live-Virtual-Constructive [LVC] architecture that optimizes the Joint Training and Experimentation Network [JTEN] and other similar network infrastructures. JTEN currently has 32 persistent sites, with an additional 35 sites projected by the end of 2006.

Q: Describe developments in Joint Knowledge Development and Distribution Capability [JKDDC]?

A: This capability remains focused on better preparing our individual service men and women for joint assignments. JKDDC provides access to and distribution of joint knowledge and information assets through service and other Internet portals. To better facilitate the synergy and coordination between JKDDC and JNTC, we transferred the management and oversight of this capability from the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff [J7], to JFCOM’s Joint Warfighting Center. Twenty courses have been fielded to date with more on the way. This effort allows individuals to complete courses and arrive ready for duty as individual augmentees or on COCOM staffs, or to shore up on topics after they arrive for duty. The Advanced Distributed Learning initiative continues to be the foundation for JKDDC. Like JNTC, JKDDC is being refocused to expand the audiences that it reaches and the content that it provides.

Q: Provide an update for the Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability [JAEC].

A: JAEC remains the youngest brother of the three T2 capabilities but it is growing up fast. JAEC has recently achieved several important milestones. Focused on the “so what” question, JAEC has created a performance assessment architecture used to conduct our initial block assessments and balanced scorecard assessments. These appraisals are reviewed by the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and other senior leaders on a periodic basis.

As we address the expanded mission sets called for in the QDR, JAEC takes on an even greater role. These new joint training missions are complex—joint urban operations, information operations and other challenging coalitional joint tasks. These and other tasks require us to invest a significant amount of resources. So through the analysis coordinated by JAEC, we want to know: are we truly transforming our training? And, are we efficiently utilizing our resources—both personnel and time? JAEC is designed to provide these and other answers. JAEC will also expand our assessments of individual, unit and staff training, and be the basis for allowing us to adapt and revise our T2 Strategic Plan and programmatic documents.

Finally, the value and outcomes of our T2 efforts must be reflected in the services’ and COCOMs’ readiness reporting. JAEC will serve to facilitate the linkage of these joint performance outcomes to the Defense Readiness Reporting System.

Q: You earlier mentioned ADL. Please describe your progress in that program.

A: I am very pleased with the ADL Program’s overall progress. Let me provide two of its many recent accomplishments.

As a result of the program’s outreach effort to industry and academia, the e-learning community’s use of the Sharable Content Object Reference Model (SCORM) has increased. There are 33 SCORM 2004-conformant products and 115 products which are SCORM Version 1.2 conformant. We are completing staffing actions on a DoD Instruction on ADL, which will provide important policy guidance to the Department’s practitioners on using SCORM and other matters. We expect the instruction to be issued this summer.

The program has also launched its next major project, called CORDRA [Content Object Repository Discovery and Registration Architecture], that will establish a federation of content repositories where learning objects reside. The metadata describing each object will be centrally registered for quick discovery. This is another collaborative effort, which is building upon earlier successes in digital object identification in the publishing industry.

We are looking at are other exciting possibilities on the technology horizon. Let me briefly describe several.

The ADL team is supporting an important research and development effort to help DoD determine the true learning value from numerous online gaming products that we see entering the marketplace. The ADL staff is asking the same questions I ask as I watch my sons play video games: “What complex integrating skills are being learned, do these skills generalize to other settings of uncertainty or ambiguity, where does the entertainment end and the learning begin?” Our experience suggests that this technology has great potential, so we are pursuing it.

The ADL community has also expanded its dialogue with its counterparts in technical publications. Specifically, a technical bridge is being built to connect SCORM environments with the S1000D standard for technical publications to allow interchange of schematics, drawings and rich text for training and performance aiding.

Consistent with the strategic direction provided in the QDR, let me also challenge the broader ADL community—industry, academia, and international partners—to continue to help the department build partnership capacity through its collaborative projects and programs with our friends and allies around the world. It takes an international village to create a productive and continual learning environment.

Q: Describe the Training Transformation Interagency, Intergovernmental, and Multinational Mission Essential Tasks [TIM2].

A: T2 is also working on how to better enable joint operations with the many diverse partners that we have in the interagency community. All of these partners have capabilities that when combined with the operational capabilities of our joint forces allow us to bring all the elements of power together to accomplish our missions. The TIM2 initiative is being led by the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy.

TIM2 has added and revised tasks in the Joint Training System related to operating with interagency community partners. More importantly it is expanding our operational communications, coordination, cooperation, and even collaboration with these partners as our forces are getting education, training, exercise and experimentation experience preparing to work with NGOs and PVOs, and other groups on future battlefields.

We look to TIM2 as another opportunity to build partnership capacity.

Q: Describe your office’s interest in the acquisition process.

A: My boss, Dr. David Chu, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, is a member of the Defense Acquisition Board which convenes to review all DoD major defense acquisition investments. Our desired outcome is to include training throughout the life cycle of a weapons platform and weapons system.

To keep our leadership advised of the training dimension of these programs, my staff participates on the major Integrated Process Teams (IPTs). Within the last several weeks they attended IPTs for the Joint Strike Fighter, the F-22 Raptor, the Future Combat System, and other key programs—so, we are clearly, fully engaged.

Our interest and participation have made a difference. For example, our ADL Co-Lab program helped facilitate the F-35 program’s use of SCORM-conformant courseware in its training programs. We are looking to achieve similar successes in the future.

Q: Your thoughts on the importance of ranges.

A: While DoD is moving more electrons through virtual and constructive training, and not people and things, we still need our world-class range infrastructure to support the live piece of collective training, and to test our increasingly complex and more capable weapons systems and platforms.

There’s one challenge that DoD must continue to proactively address—encroachment on our ranges. During my visits to our world-class training facilities at Camp Lejeune, N.C., the Nevada Test and Training Range, and other sites, I am constantly amazed at the continued development in close proximity to our fence lines, underneath the airspace and training routes, and around our other operating areas.

While Congress has helped us preserve some flexibility at our ranges through legislation, that is only a small piece of the answer. My staff, in coordination with the office of the under secretary of defense (acquisition, technology and logistics), the director of Operational Test and Evaluation, and other directorates, has recognized the importance of outreach and partnering. We are now working successfully to establish mutual understanding and find common ground with state, local and other units of government, and conservation groups who share a desire to protect and manage these valuable air, land and sea resources. This effort is part of our Range Sustainment Initiative—which combines leadership and outreach with policy and programming initiatives to better preserve our range and long-term readiness.

Our ranges, combined with other non-DoD lands, airspace, sea space and the frequency spectrum, are irreplaceable training and testing assets. Our ability to train at home station prior to combat, under a wide range of scenarios and environmental conditions, remains a fundamental enabler of U.S. Service and Joint military strength. Continued efforts to counter encroachment and sustain our ranges over the long run are essential.

Q: Any opportunities for industry and academia?

A: On the top of my list is helping DoD develop the evolving LVC environment in all of our training domains—sea, air, land, and space. JFCOM has an expanding outreach program that helps capture the good ideas in the private sector and university research and development offices to help us meet this and other challenges. I encourage the members of those communities to increase their awareness of that process by accessing JFCOM’s homepage at www. jfcom.mil.

We are still looking for good ideas to help us solve the technical challenges of multi-level security—which will, in part, enable us to more fully integrate our coalition and allies into our training events and future operations.

Q: Any concluding thoughts?

A: Yes. First, I want to thank MT2 for its great, ongoing effort to keep the training community aware of recent training transformation developments, trends, and issues.

Next, I want to thank the Congressional Modeling & Simulation Caucus for supporting our programs. I have attended several forums sponsored by the Caucus and it is apparent that its members are truly raising the nation’s awareness about M&S and gaining support for this important national industry. ♦

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