LANGLEY AIR FORCE BASE, Va. –
Established at Langley in 1975, Air, Land, Sea Applications is a joint organization that meets the immediate needs of the warfighter.
Just after the Vietnam War, the Army and Air Force identified the need to create an organization to increase Army/Air Force coordination and to cut through the "red tape" of the multi-service doctrine development process.
The Army's Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) and the Air Force's Tactical Air Command, now Air Combat Command, established the Air Land Forces Application Agency in June 1975 to meet those needs.
The decision to place this new organization at Langley, where Tactical Air Command was headquartered, was chosen because of the proximity to Headquarters' TRADOC, which was located at Fort Monroe, allowing the two organizations to coordinate before the days of e-mail.
The stunning joint and coalition victory of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 convinced the Navy and Marine Corps to join. They would assign permanent billets to ALFA and the organization was renamed the Air, Land, Sea Application Center to incorporate all four services.
The Air, Land, Sea Application Center produces multi-service tactics, techniques, and procedure publications that help servicemen and women in global military operations every day, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Editor's Note: This is the first article in the Air, Land, Sea Applications Center feature series. Look for the next article, "Joint publication provides solutions on battlefield" Nov. 6.