1. The Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) 3.0
UNCLASSIFIED
The Decisive Action Training Environment (DATE) 3.0
U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command
ACE Threats Integration
July 2017
Approved for public release: distribution unlimited
UNCLASSIFIED

2. What’s New in DATE 3.0 Geographical revisions New threat actors
Threat actors chapter
Updated events section
Additional guidance for end users
Many other smaller changes

3. Geographical Revisions
Restoration of DATE 2.0 borders
Removal of Kalaria
Removal of real-world bordering countries
Expansion of Donovia PE variable
DATE 3.0
DATE 2.2
Borders for Ariana, Gorgas, and Limaria have been restored to those used in DATE 2.1, as shown above. All maps in the document have been updated to reflect these changes. Related information, such as road miles and percentage of arable land, have also been revised in the affected countries.
All mentions of Kalaria, including its citizens, ethnicity, and language, have been removed from the DATE. Text discussing Limarian conflict with Kalaria has also been removed, resulting in Limaria’s main focus being limited to one DATE country—Atropia.
All mention of named non-DATE border countries has been removed from the DATE. Most of these mentions have been removed in their entirety. In a few select instances, text referring to a specific country has been modified to refer to an “eastern neighbor” or “regional conflict.” All maps were revised to eliminate defined borders for non-DATE countries. In addition, mention of other real-world countries not bordering DATE OEs has also been minimized, and all references to the Global War on Terror (GWOT) and Operations Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Iraqi Freedom (OIF) have been removed.
The Physical Environment variable was extensively rewritten to expand it from the North Caucasus area to the entire country.

4. New Threat Actors One Right Path (violent extremist)
The True Believers (violent extremist)
Saints of Cognitio (criminal)
Thirteen additional criminal organizations:
Three in Ariana
Three in Atropia
Three in Donovia
Two in Gorgas
One in Gorgas and Limaria
Multiple new threat groups have been added, to include two religious-based violent extremist organizations, One Right Path and The True Believers; a hacking/computer crimes group, Saints of Cognitio; and several country-specific criminal groups. In addition, several new fictional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were added.

5. Type of Irregular Threat Actor
New Threat Actors
One Right Path
The True Believers
Type of Irregular Threat Actor
Violent extremist organization
Branch of Islam
Shia
Sunni
Goal
Islamic Caliphate
Elimination of Shia sect
Targets
Sunnis in Atropia & to a lesser extent Donovia
Shias in Atropia & Ariana
Possible Ally
Ariana
Donovia
Characteristics
Operates in dense urban areas
Conducts raids from rural bases
Very organized hierarchy
Loose cellular structure
Very proficient in use of INFOWAR techniques
Very little use of INFOWAR techniques
Multiple new threat groups have been added, to include two religious-based violent extremist organizations, One Right Path and The True Believers; a hacking/computer crimes group, Saints of Cognitio; and several country-specific criminal groups. In addition, several new fictional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were added.

6. Type of Irregular Threat Actor
New Threat Actors
Saints of Cognitio
Type of Irregular Threat Actor
Criminal
Goal
Self-styled social warrior
Targets
Governments, large corporations
Possible Ally
Other irregular actors
Characteristics
Wide network of individuals
INFOWAR practitioners
Non-kinetic actions
Multiple new threat groups have been added, to include two religious-based violent extremist organizations, One Right Path and The True Believers; a hacking/computer crimes group, Saints of Cognitio; and several country-specific criminal groups. In addition, several new fictional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) were added.

7. Threat Actors Chapter Added after individual country variables
Includes the following:
Threat actor summary table (new)
Threat actor overview table (moved from Strategic Setting)
Threat actor orders of battle (moved from individual country orders of battle)
Force structures for OE threat groups—e.g. insurgents—were moved from the individual countries’ OBs to the new Threat Actors chapter at the end of Section 2: Variables of the OE and Orders of Battle. This chapter also includes a summary showing each group by location (countries) and type, as well as a more detailed table. Force structures were added for the violent extremist organizations and the Lower Jangan Army.

8. Updated Events Section
METL tasks updated to conform with October 2015 edition of the AUTL
Many events rewritten in whole or in part
The events section was updated, with many events rewritten in whole or in part. METL tasks for all events were also updated to conform to the most recent version (October 2015) of the Army Universal Task List (AUTL).

9. Additional Guidance for Users
Emphasized the blend of real-world training conditions with artificial data
Added guidance on modifying the DATE
Example:
Acceptable: Adding detail on the Bilasuvar Freedom Brigade (BFB) insurgent group, including biographies of main players.
Not acceptable: Turning the BFB into an anti-Donovian radical religious group.
Added guidance on reporting and access issues
No defined COCOM “owner” for DATE countries
No political barriers to Black Sea access
Added guidance on “fixed” and “sliding” dates
The DATE is constructed using real-world conditions to challenge unit training objectives, but uses artificial data to provide a fictional setting that can be manipulated for suitability to any training event, to include decisive operations.
The DATE was developed and designed to allow for flexibility and creativity in its application. Not all conditions in the document need to be represented during each training event. Specific training requirements should drive the scenario development and conditions replicated. If additional description or detail is needed for a given condition, each exercise planner can add that narrative to the condition. The goal is to keep the baseline conditions stable—including group naming conventions and associated conditions—while allowing for any additional narrative to be added as required by the training tasks. [Five examples of acceptable/not acceptable modifications were added.]
Certain aspects of DATE OEs are clearly divergent from real-world OEs. These include:
OE Combatant Commands (COCOMs): No COCOM is defined for any of the OEs in the DATE. Instead, the exercise designer determines which COCOM each country will fall under for that exercise. This allows a COCOM to either “own” the entire region or be required to engage in inter-COCOM coordination due to other COCOM(s) having responsibility for one or more of the countries used in the exercise.
Black Sea Access: Any and all geopolitical impediments to the transit of military vessels into and out of the Black Sea are suspended within the DATE environment. If training purposes require such an impediment, it can be introduced at the discretion of the exercise designer.
Two different categories of dates exist in this document. The first are “fixed” dates, which are those that have a specific day/month/year. An example is the Council of Guardians Revolution in Ariana, which took place in early Fixed dates do not change with the passage of time. The second category is “sliding” dates, which are described as having occurred a certain number of years ago. An example is the Four Traitors incident in Donovia, which happened 20 years ago. Sliding dates change with the passage of time: an exercise held in 2014 would place the Four Traitors incident in 1994, while one held in 2023 will place the Four Traitors incident in With few exceptions, all post-1989 dates are sliding dates. The timelines provided in the Time variable of each OE are broken out by fixed and sliding dates for convenience, but some overlap of the two may occur.

10. Other Changes Multiple fictitious NGOs added
Data tables added to PE variables
Timelines added to Time variables
Election cycles augmented
Multiple orders of battle revised
Mention of real-world countries, ethnicities, and languages minimized
Multiple sections added to or revised in each country’s variables

11. https://atn.army.mil/dsp_template.aspx?dpID=588
For More Information
A further description of significant changes made can be found in the Strategic Setting of DATE 3.0
A spreadsheet containing detailed information on each change made to the country variables, including deletions, can be found on ACE-TI’s DATE page on the Army Training Network (ATN) at: