Streamlining the Training Development Process

The Directorate of Training and Doctrine's Digital Department of the Army Form 2028

By SFC Deanna M. Lucchesi and Ms. Heather N. Meyerhoff

Article published on: April 1, 2025 in the April-June 2025 Edition of Aviation Digest

Read Time: < 5 mins

The evidence of a good leader is revealed after they leave the corporation, business, or organization they are a part of, and their established processes still function in their absence, continuing long after they have gone. By encouraging others to collaborate and share ideas, new innovations come to light to help better the organization.

Solutions that truly make a lasting difference and sustain continued, positive change are those that provide systematic changes to the larger system. This requires leaders to see not only their internal problems and solutions from their tiny foxhole but also the bigger scope of the entire organization, division, or even the Army's initiative.

For example, training product development is a never-ending cycle. While some products change very little over their 3-year management cycles, others change rapidly and need to be consistently monitored for doctrine, organization, training, materiel, leadership, education, personnel, facilities, and policy (DOTMLPF-P) changes. As the new and improved information, equipment, procedures, and policies are implemented, training products such as individual tasks, collective tasks, lesson plans, training support packages (TSPs), POIs, publications, Aircrew Training Manuals, etc., must keep pace. Hours upon hours are spent in the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) process to review changes and update training materials, as well as all the other associated products affected by those changes.

Streamlining and improving the Directorate of Training and Doctrine's (DOTD) already established processes, guided by the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command's (TRADOC) training and doctrine regulations, allows for more flexibility when triggering events (e.g., changes in equipment, materiel items, doctrine, policies) force the restart of the ADDIE process. This restart causes a strain on training developers but serves as a forcing function to ensure training products maintain relevancy.

"As with any robust operation, it is essential to conclude with an afteraction review … it is crucial to plan how and when the Army will gather feedback on system usage and POI [programs of instruction] adjustments. Establishing this feedback loop will be vital for refining our processes and ensuring that the transformation of TUAS [tactical unmanned aircraft system] training continues to meet the operational needs of our forces effectively."

— LTC Kent Monas & CPT Corbin Heard (2024)

The DOTD for the Aviation Center of Excellence (AVCOE) currently maintains approximately 5,600 products within the Training Development Capability¹ database. Each of these products operates on a 3-year cycle for review; however, changes can occur more frequently as the DOTMLPF-P process requires.

Within the Enlisted Training Branch (ETB) at DOTD currently, six military training developer subject matter experts collaborating with their civilian Instructional System Specialist manage close to 500 Individual Critical Tasks (ICTs) alone. This doesn't even include the concurrent course POIs and lesson

Within the Enlisted Training Branch (ETB) at DOTD currently, six military training developer subject matter experts collaborating with their civilian Instructional System Specialist manage close to 500 Individual Critical Tasks (ICTs) alone. This doesn't even include the concurrent course POIs and lesson plans, plus other inherent resourcing documents like TSPs.

One-hundred twenty-four out of 500 ICTs belong to the 15M Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft system (UAS) Repairer military occupational specialty (MOS). As a result of the 15M Critical Task Site Selection Board (CTSSB) hosted by ETBDOTD in May 2023, 65 tasks were added to the Individual Critical Task List (ICTL), to include 33 total 20-level tasks and 14 total 30-level tasks. This was a massive increase in ICTs for the MOS, which clearly demonstrated operational need for ETB training product development. The main training gap that the 15M CTSSB captured was the absence of 20- and 30-level tasks, except for what was being established through locally created unit standard operating procedure and commander-approved Aviation Maintenance Training Programs. This also meant a much longer analysis process for the ETB training development team. Additionally, it also required resource collection from those hard-charging Gray Eagle units creating their own ICTs and the Combined Aviation Maintenance ICTL, which directs the learning objectives for lesson plans taught at the AVCOE, Eastern Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, Western Army National Guard Aviation Training Site, Noncommissioned Officer Academy's (NCOA) Advanced Leader Course, and Senior Leaders Course (SLC) for Aviation Maintenance.

After a year of walking through the entire ADDIE process with the 15M ICTL and finally arriving at the "evaluation" phase, SFC Lucchesi's desire for receiving real-time feedback from the force grew immensely. So, she did what any good NCO would do and started digging through TRADOC and DOTD training and doctrine regulations to find answers to questions like: What standardization process do the ETB and DOTD use to capture invaluable feedback once the ICTs are being utilized by the force? What does this evaluation process consist of; how is it being carried out; and even more importantly, how is this information being captured, analyzed, and implemented?

Enter the authors from two different sections and two different jobs within DOTD, Fort Rucker, Alabama. They shared one vision to find a more efficient way to streamline the Department of the Army (DA) Form 2028, "Recommended Changes to Publications and Blank Forms," process to keep training material current (DA, 2018).

Together, they developed a new method to receive feedback on training products more quickly and easily for review, concurrence, and implementation into all training products managed by the DOTD.

This method is the new Digital 2028 process, which allows for rapid feedback— not only from the organization— but also from the operational forces. Developed in the application builder tool, Microsoft Power Apps, the Digital 2028 provides a quick-access link² to immediately provide feedback on all types of training materials.

The old method process required the individual to download the form, fill it out, and submit it. This can prove problematic because many Soldiers, and even young NCOs, do not know who the proponent is for these training products, specifically the ICTs. So, they take time out of their busy schedules to fill out the DA Form 2028 but then do not know to whom or where to send it. Regarding lesson plans and POI, the DA Form 2028s are sent to a distribution email, which is poorly monitored and managed. This leaves the end user wondering whether or not their efforts and feedback are even being received or actioned, because they do not receive a response or even see their change request take effect.

After building and testing the new application, we have finally published and shared it with members of the Army, Reserves, and National Guard.

Tigersharks maintain expeditionary deployment readiness. U.S. Army photo by CPT Kyle Abraham.

The Digital 2028 is a one-stop application that Soldiers, instructors, and developers within U.S. Army Aviation can utilize to send immediate feedback on products by simply clicking a link. The link opens the application, and the individual fills out a brief form, provides their feedback, and adds attachments for reference or recommendations as needed. To send the form, the individual clicks the "submit" button, and their change request immediately uploads to a Microsoft Teams content page. Here, it is then assigned to the branch responsible for the product, as well as the team members who will review and concur/ non-concur with the provided feedback.

Aviation maintainers inspect and repair parts of a CH-47, ensuring the unit's aircraft are operational, safe, and ready to fly. U.S. Army photo by CPT Roxana Thompson.

Because of this application, training products from AVCOE can be tracked more closely for changes and updated rapidly, saving hours of work for developers and their teams. We predict that once in full use, the application will save a minimum of 8 hours per product in the revision cycle. Ultimately, the Digital 2028 will save an estimated 16,000 manhours per fiscal year.

Wiesbaden Aviation Regiment performs helicopter maintenance. U.S. Army photo by Connie Dickey.

We plan to provide a link to the Digital 2028 within all the training products and the CAC-enabled DOTD SharePoint page. Additionally, we coordinated efforts to publish the link on Aviation Training and Maintenance websites, such as the Joint Technical Data Integration (JTDI), and Aviation Maintainer Analytics Platform (A-MAP) sites, for ease of access to the operational force. As of the latter part of January 2025, the JTDI and A-MAP sites have integrated the Digital 2028 link.

SFC Lucchesi describes the rapidly changing field of UAS over the past 5 years and anticipates projected intensity as the U.S. Army continues to apply modernization initiatives to become a more lethal, agile, adaptive, and fighting force ready to win on the battlefields of the future, stating that "training development is much like surfing off the coast of Hawaii. Respectively, as a training developer, you must be proactive and ride on top of the waves of change or get pummeled by them."

The new Digital 2028 establishes that "feedback loop" and is designed to allow DOTD to keep up with the rapid changes of training and ultimately provide more accurate and effective training products. This will help AVCOE ride the waves of change into the future of training development, supporting U.S. Army Aviation strategic alignment and future initiatives.

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