LeMay Center realigns doctrine development Published March 4, 2009 By Carl Bergquist Air University Public Affairs MAXWELL AIR FORCE BASE, Ala. -- The commander of the Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education said Feb. 19, the center is taking a vision "first imagined in 1997," when the Air Force Doctrine Center moved from Langley Air Force Base, Va., to Maxwell, and is moving it forward to ensure a direct relationship between doctrine education and warfighting. Maj. Gen. Stephen Miller said the relationship will be accomplished through professional military education, professional continuing education, accessions programs and wargaming. "One of the key initiatives for us is to take people in separate directorates and integrate them into teams so everyone participates in doctrine development, education and wargaming," the general said. "All of this has an impact on Air Force, joint and multi-national doctrine, and the merging of the College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research and Education, and the Air Force Doctrine Center is helping us organizationally achieve our objectives." General Miller noted there are five broad goals in the strategic plan of realignment, and they will serve to prioritize the most important initiatives and, ultimately, measure mission success. The broad goals are: Define, recruit, develop and sustain an Air Force cadre of doctrine development, education and wargaming experts. Develop policies, processes and measures of effectiveness for the development and publication of doctrine that is timely, relevant and influential. Develop policies, documents, processes and measures of effectiveness for integrating doctrine into Air Force technical training publications, education and wargaming. Identify, program and effectively execute the resources needed to achieve our measures of effectiveness. Identify and assess several legacy activities for divestiture and retailoring which presently do not directly support the revised LeMay Center mission and vision. "Frankly, this is a daunting task," the general said. "We have to publish all documents the teams produce, and the teams are also responsible for any publications associated with their doctrine." General Miller said a "core challenge" is developing a diverse workforce of active-duty and other military members, government service employees and contractors, and to prepare them for the tasks ahead. "How do we get the teams properly trained to do the job? What does it take to be a doctrinaire?" the general asked. "We are developing a two-week course to give them the skills they will need to do the job, and that is almost the bottom line in all of this. Doctrine is so fundamental to warfighting." General Miller said the LeMay Center is in the process of formalizing how it will determine what doctrine goes into PME, PCE and wargaming. He said ultimately the Air University commander is responsible for what doctrine is employed in Air Force educational programs. "We inform the commander about new doctrine, and he lets the schools know what to use and what not to use," he said. "Here at LeMay, everyone participates in doctrine development, not just active-duty military." The general also noted the LeMay Center has a vision of making every Airman "doctrine smart." He said all Airmen require a certain level of intelligence on doctrine to do their jobs. "We want to see people waiting for new doctrine because it will affect their jobs and make better warfighters of them," he said. "As soon as new doctrine comes off the line, we need to get it to Airmen." General Miller said a certain amount of Air University curriculum must be reserved for doctrine education, and the center must insure everyone understands the doctrine. "We will provide modules of education for use across the Air Force to help make each Airman doctrine smart," he said. "The LeMay Center Web site, which is open to any military member with a common access card, covers a wide spectrum of doctrine information. The site provides Air Force, joint and multi-national doctrine, and anyone can come to the site and pick up relevant information." General Miller also noted the Web site, at www.au.af.mil/au/lemay, is open to people developing doctrine outside the Air Force and is moving up the list of most-often visited sites. "We are seeing a lot of people coming to our site, and that makes us influential because they are coming to the Air Force for doctrine," he said. "I'm very proud of the work our people have put into this Web site." General Miller said the LeMay Center is a new organization that combines doctrine development, doctrine education and wargaming into one integrated organization. He described the LeMay Center as an, "exciting Chief of Staff of the Air Force-directed initiative" that brings promising possibilities, as well as new challenges. The new mission and vision statement has specific goals and objectives and includes near, mid and long-term objectives for the center's 2009 to 2014 strategic plan.