In today’s rapidly changing world, where knowledge and skills become outdated quickly, the Army is committed to providing its personnel with access to 
training and education content anytime, anywhere. Army Training Support Center Lifelong Learning Centers (LLCs) have been established to help meet this goal by offering a comprehensive platform for creating, managing, and delivering training and education content to both resident and non-resident students. The purpose of LLCs is to foster and adapt an agile learning environment for all Army soldiers, Army career professionals, trainers, and training managers.

The establishment of LLCs provides an adaptive and agile learning environment by providing learners with 
uninterrupted access to training and education material, regardless of their location or training environment. By bridging the gap between the three training 
domains—institutional, operational, and self-development—LLCs enable Army personnel to continue their learning journey beyond the traditional 
schoolhouse setting.

The key objectives of LLCs can be summarized as follows:

• Accessibility: LLCs prioritize accessibility, ensuring that training and education content is available to all learners and trainers. By leveraging technology and digital platforms, LLCs eliminate geographical barriers, enabling personnel to pursue continuous education and professional development irrespective of their physical location.
• Agility: In a rapidly evolving world, agility is crucial for success. LLCs provide an agile learning environment, allowing Army personnel to remain up to date with the latest training, education materials, and information. Through continuous updates and improvements, LLCs ensure that Soldiers possess the knowledge and skills necessary to meet emerging challenges effectively.
• Continuity: LLCs foster continuity in the learning process by seamlessly integrating the three modes of training and education delivery—resident, distributed, and blended. These centers serve as a bridge, enabling a smooth transition between different training phases and ensuring the Army personnel can continually build upon their existing knowledge and expertise. 

Lifelong Learning Centers have had a significant impact on the Army community, facilitating continuous learning and professional development. Annually, 400,000 students benefit from LLCs, with 35,000+ course iterations taking place each year. To further enhance the capabilities of the LLCs, the Enterprise Lifelong Learning Center (ELLC) located at Fort Eustis is currently undergoing a modernization effort that aims to update the infrastructure and application software, ensuring that LLCs operate on the most current versions. This allows for the Army to remain at the forefront of distributed lifelong learning and accessible training. 
 

Background: The initial execution of lifelong learning in the Army was done at the Army Signal School at Ft. Gordon, GA. A year-long study was conducted for Ft. Gordon in 2001 to examine current training and education methodologies and proposed a plan to take their training mission into the future. The result was a plan created in July 2001 titled “The University of Information Technology and Digital Training Master Plan”. The plan was the birth of the lifelong learning process. The LLC program was extended to Ft. Leavenworth, KS and Ft. Leonard Wood, MO in 2006. The enterprise LLC was established at Ft. Eustis, VA in 2007.

It is TRADOC’s methodology of providing training and education along with the opportunity to acquire the skills, knowledge, and attributes needed to perform the missions of the Army’s Future Forces. The three established LLCs (Forts Eustis, Gordon, & Leavenworth) and three separate locations at TJAGLCS in Charlottesville, VA, WOCC at Ft. Novosel, AL, and at Ft. Bliss, TX which includes NCOLCoE and SGM-A, currently have more than 375,000 resident and non- resident registered users annually using the Learning Content Management System (LCMS) (Blackboard Learn™) capability on the .mil (NIPR), .smil (SIPR), and commercial (.com) networks. The LLC environment on the .mil is known as the Enterprise Lifelong Learning Center (ELLC); the one on the .com is known as the Army Lifelong Learning Environment (ALLE); and the one on the .smil is known as the SIPR LLC.