GATE stands alone as the largest tropical field experiment in the history of our science. Yet, the contribution that it has made to the increasing our level of understanding of processes that determine the state of the atmosphere and ocean can only be appreciated relative to other major field experiments that took place before and after GATE. To this end, we seek to determine a context for GATE relative to the International Geophysical Year's Indian Ocean Experiment, the FGGE Summer and Winter Monsoon Experiments, the Equatorial Mesoscale Experiment, the Australian Monsoon Experiment and, finally, TOGA COARE. An attempt is made to assess where we stand in our understanding and the various contributuions that each experiment has made and make suggestions for future directions