What's a after action report?

An After Action Report (or AAR) is any form of retrospective analysis on a given sequence of goal oriented actions previously undertaken, generally by the author itself. The Analytical AAR, exercised as part of a process of performance evaluation and improvement, while in most cases AARs are a combination of both.

Analytical AARs have 5 central objectives [at TG]:
  • Identifying problematic issues and tactics
  • Identifying positive points and "what works"
  • Proposing measures to counteract problematic elements
  • Obtaining “lessons learned”
  • Reinforcing submitted awards nominations

Structure of a AAR
  1. Overview
  2. Goals and objectives
  3. Analysis of outcomes
  4. Analysis of the performance shown on critical tasks
  5. Summary
  6. Recommendations
(Some AARs will not have all 6 pieces of the structure.)