LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Tucked away at the east end of the Langley Air Force Base runway, behind the fuel tank farm, is a 20-person, multi-service command which impacts organizations around the globe.
The Air Land Sea Application Center is recognized not only in the U.S. military community, but also among allies as one of the expert organizations in the development of tactical level multi-service tactics techniques and procedures publications. The ALSA team hosted representatives from the Australian Defence Force Oct. 31, who wanted to learn about the processes it uses to quickly generate tactical publications for the warfighter. The Australian contingent included Vanessa Kovalevs and Chris Ross, doctrine writers , who work for the Australian Joint Warfare Doctrine and Training Centre.
Kovalevs said her organization had been trying for a few years to travel to ALSA to discuss and better understand how ALSA manages tactical doctrine development.
"We are very interested in the linkages ALSA has into joint doctrine and where the dovetailing is, how ALSA receives its taskings and how the endorsement process works."
"We struggle with the rapid nature of equipment upgrades and maintaining relevancy of the latest facts and figures, specifically in publications such as JFIRE. We are stymied with a relatively long endorsement process and are looking for ways of speeding things up and improving the links between the warfighter (end user) and the doctrine, and its development," she said.
Col. David Hume, ALSA director, discussed with Kovalevs and Ross each step of the process ALSA uses to develop the MTTP publications it produces.
"I think we helped Vanessa and Chris bring about what they had in mind to accomplish by coming here. Also, we are encouraged by their interest and desire to learn our processes. It is our goal to assist in streamlining the doctrine development process, whether it is our own or that of others who work in this arena.
"Our methods have worked for years," Hume added. "Still, we are constantly reviewing and evaluating our doctrine development processes to identify how we may do them even better. Exchanges like this help in the effort as we can always learn from others who labor in the doctrine community."
Ross echoed the director's sentiments.
"This was a very worthwhile visit," Ross said. "And, ALSA provided us with excellent insight into how we may improve our doctrine development processes. We wish we could have visited years ago."
Lt. Col. Troy Ewing, action officer working at ALSA, said he thought the visit by the Australians was a good exchange of information and ideas.
"One thing that surprised me was how small their military forces are in numbers compared with the United States. In our discussions, Miss Kovalevs stated their military consists of only 9,000 Navy, 33,000 Army, and 12,000 Air Force servicemembers, and no Marines. Judging from their manning numbers, it's easy to understand why they would like to find ways to increase efficiency in their doctrine publication processes," Ewing said.
ALSA's mission is to rapidly and responsively develop and publish MTTPs publications and other like solutions across the entire military spectrum to meet the immediate needs of the warfighter.
Some of their better known publications are JFIRE, Cordon and Search, Survival, Tactical Convoy Operations and Advising, all of which have been used by Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and coalition partners who have deployed from the many military facilities worldwide.
ALSA publications are available to the military community, and warfighters are invited to access them at www.alsa.mil/. Anyone who wishes to comment on ALSA's publications or suggest ideas for future tactical-level publications may contact the command through their website.