Penn State provides suggestions to improve Marine Corps Learned System

Penn State provides suggestions to improve Marine Corps Learned System

University Park, Pa. -- Utilizing lessons learned and interviews of Marine teams sent to and returning from combat operations principally in Iraq and Afghanistan, Penn State researchers provided a number of recommendations and options to better integrate, streamline and facilitate the Marine Corps' Lesson Learned System.

The system provides tactical, operational and strategic support for all Marines and their commanders at any base worldwide as decision-making tools for a wide variety of scenarios, ranging from transporting supplies to developing military tactics in a hostile situation to setting up humanitarian relief in a natural disaster area.

Penn State recently completed a 23-month technical study and prototype system development, funded at more than $500,000, for the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned (MCCLL). In a cooperative effort between the University's Applied Research Laboratory (ARL) and the College of Information Sciences and Technologies, the team developed a prototype for a dramatically improved and streamlined knowledge management system that incorporates lessons learned, studies and analysis, reports and analysis.

"Marines can then take relevant lessons learned by other Marines with them when they deploy, use and share them, comment on them, and add to them as the time and opportunity present themselves during deployment. Marines upload their new contributions to the knowledge base when they have network access," said Col. Barney Grimes III, USMC (Ret.), overall project manager at the Marine Corps Research University, based at Penn State.

Further, ARL continued the work to design, develop, test and deliver a new product called the Mobile Lessons Management System (LMS) in 2005 and 2006. The Mobile LMS is a software application that runs on a notebook computer and allows a Marine in the field to connect to the primary LMS program, search and download a set of lessons learned, and organize and search them as needed.

The Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned subsequently introduced their system in March 2006 to the other Department of Defense services where the knowledge bases employed by each service were reviewed. In May, it was announced that the Marine Corps' system was selected by the joint staff as the joint solution for lessons learned program management.

"Penn State University and the Marine Corps Research University are honored to have contributed to the success of the Marine Corps Center for Lessons Learned," Col. Grimes added.

In addition, Robert L. Walter IV of the Applied Research Laboratory was the principal investigator of the study. The MCRU has been a research and academic resource of the Marine Corps at Penn State since May 1999.