The Air Force has always trained for conflict, but today’s challenges demand more than practice sorties and simulations. To prepare for operations in contested and complex environments, the service is expanding how it designs, executes, and evaluates large-scale exercises. At the center of that effort is the Air Force Lessons Learned program.  
 
  “Our mission is to be the commander’s eyes and ears,” explained Allen Moore, program manager with Air Force Lessons Learned. “We collect what Airmen are seeing in the field, analyze it, and bring it back to leadership in a form they can act on.” 

  That process has been crucial during the Department-Level Exercise (DLE) series, the largest integrated training event in modern Air Force history. Spanning multiple continents and seven field training exercises, the DLE places Airmen in the demanding environments of the Indo-Pacific—forcing them to navigate long distances, contested communications, and sustainment under pressure.

  To ensure the lessons stick, the collection effort starts well before the first aircraft launches. Air Force Lessons Learned embeds with planners from major commands and exercise control teams months in advance. Observers track how commands integrate, how sustainment functions over extended timelines, and how command relationships adapt as forces flow into theater. 
 

Allen Moore, Air Force Lessons Learned program manager. As program manager, Moore oversees a team of assessors who attend exercises to observe, interview participants, and document key takeaways. The lessons they identify are incorporated into future exercises and wargames.

U.S. Army paratroopers assigned to 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 11th Airborne Division, board a C-17 Globemaster assigned to the 154th Operations Wing in support of exercise Talisman Sabre 2025 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, July 13, 2025. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech Sgt. Tarelle Walker)

   Col. Jeremy Smith, Air Force Lessons Learned director, said this integration ensures that issues identified in the field aren’t lost in bureaucracy. “Our role is to enhance readiness and combat capability by bringing forward the voices of Airmen,” he said. “That means making sure a commander’s concerns aren’t filtered out as they move through the staff process.” 
 
  The program’s rigor lies in how observations become validated lessons. Teams record interviews and trends across commands, then draft background papers that frame the risk to force and risk to mission. Issues identified as service-wide are elevated through the Air Force Issue Resolution Process, where they receive direct attention from the Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force.

  “Every six months, we brief senior leaders on progress,” Smith said. “That ensures solutions aren’t just written down, but resourced, tracked, and incorporated into doctrine, training, or even acquisition when needed.” 
 

U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Addie Braden, an in-flight refueling specialist with the 121st Air Refueling Wing, prepares to refuel an F-16 Fighting Falcon assigned to the 177th Fighter Wing, during exercise Resolute Force Pacific (REFORPAC) 2025.(U.S. Air National Guard photo by Staff Sgt. Ivy Thomas)

   The payoff is tangible. By embedding assessment into exercises like Mobility Guardian and Resolute Forces Pacific, the Air Force is not only testing Agile Combat Employment concepts but distilling what does —and doesn’t— work, before the next crisis. 

  Large-scale exercises are costly and complex, but Moore argued they are irreplaceable. “The Pacific is a harsh theater. You don’t learn how to operate there sitting at a desk in Washington,” he said. “Airmen come home with lessons they’ll carry for the rest of their careers.” 

  The ultimate goal is ensuring that every exercise sharpens the force, validates new concepts, and equips Airmen to respond decisively when called. As Smith put it: “Institutional learning is not about writing history—it’s about preparing the Air Force to win the next fight.”