Breaking the Ice. Test and Training Integration: The New Partnership.

Abstract : World events in recent years have precipitated a string of major changes within the Department of Defense (DoD). The end of the Cold War caused us to re-think and revise our defense strategy which in turn led to major DoD downsizing. Our armed forces were reduced, military bases closed and or re-aligned, and budgets were significantly cut. The ramifications of these changes have already and are continuing to be felt throughout DoD. The coined phase, 'doing more with less' is becoming the reality rather than just a notion. The loss of resources (funding, personnel, and facilities) is having an adverse impact on both the Test & Evaluation (T&E) and training communities across the services. As the DoD budget shrinks so to does the workload of the acquisition infrastructure however, the need to maintain these unique capabilities does not. Similar problems plague the operational forces as well. With the reduced operating funds the operational units have fewer dollars to do business as usual. For instance the Fleet does not have the funding to steam to the traditional training locations as in the past.