Gen. William F. Kernan, U.S. Army, commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command, gives his initial assessment of the lessons learned during the conduct of Millennium Challenge 2002 to Pentagon news reporters on Sept. 17, 2002. Millennium Challenge is the first major joint transformational experiment ever conducted by the Department of Defense. The experiment dealt with ways of employing transformational tactics, equipment and weapons in a combat scenario. Millennium Challenge 2002 began July 24 and ran through August 15, 2002.