The mission of the Joint Deployment Training Center (JDTC) spawned from DoD’s pursuit to harness the benefits of information technology to centralize and expedite Command and Control of DoD capabilities and resources. The result was a system of policies and procedures, communicated through a network of mainframe computers called the Worldwide Military Command and Control System (WWMCCS), circa 1961. Early in its development, Joint Staff recognized the need for a single joint institution responsible for supporting and training the Unified/Combatant Commands (CCMDs) and Services on the system. However, funding, aversion toward computer technology and inter-Service power struggles slowed WWMCCS development and requisite joint training for nearly two decades.

It was lessons-learned from Exercise Nifty Nugget 1978, the nation’s first world wide war gaming exercise, which tested the Services’ ability to deploy joint forces and assets through WWMCCS that spurred DoD to form the Joint Deployment Agency (JDA). Tasked to develop and train users on the WWMCCS-based Joint Deployment System (JDS) and its successor: the Joint Operation Planning and Execution System (JOPES), JDA had little influence over the CCMDs and Services to incorporate the tools and training it provided. In turn, a newly formed CCMD – USTRANSCOM took on JDA’s mission and assets in 1988.

While USTRANSCOM dissolved JDA and transferred its JOPES systems development role to the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) in 1989, the CCMD kept JDA’s JOPES Training Organization (JTO). In 1997, USTRANSCOM merged JTO’s JOPES mission with the joint deployment doctrine and lessons-learned mission of the Mobility Concepts Agency (MCA) to form the Joint Deployment Training Center (JDTC). Fittingly, USTRANSCOM transferred the schoolhouse to DoD’s Joint Deployment Process Owner: USJFCOM J3 in 2003.

When DoD forecasted Global Command and Control System - Joint (GCCS-J) to replace WWMCCS as its C2 system of record in 2004, Joint Staff sought a single institution to provide functional training on the system and the C2 processes it supports. Since JOPES became a major component of GCCS-J, Joint Staff expanded JDTC’s mission to include functional training on all DoD approved GCCS-J applications. Upon USJFCOM’s disestablishment in 2010, Joint Staff aligned JDTC under its J7/Joint and Coalition Warfighting branch.

Today, JDTC is DoD’s sole provider of functional training on GCCS-J, providing training for more than 5,000 students from the CCMDs, Services and Agencies each year. JDTC divides training into three programs of study: Joint Deployment [with emphasis in JOPES and the joint deployment process], Situational Awareness [with emphasis on GCCS-J Common Operational Picture (GCCS-J COP) and GCCS-J Integrated Imagery and Intelligence (GCCS-J I3)], and Global Force Management [with emphasis on the Joint Capabilities Requirements Manager (JCRM) and the GFM process].