Opinion: Military education (at every level) should anchor on wargaming. In the words of former DoD leadership: “Building school curriculums around wargaming might help spark innovation and inculcate the entire Joint Force with a better appreciation and understanding of trans-regional, cross-domain, multidimensional combat.” From micro to multi-level campaign, from system to matrix to seminar, from role-playing to structured, wargames provide a vehicle for education that far exceeds the value of current military educational system. The greatest takeaway from wargaming is making qualitative decisions in a risk-free environment. Well, the risk might be shame, but the reward is learning. If the greatest attribute of military leaders is their ability to make decisions under stress, why isn't the best tool for learning how (i.e., wargames) the centerpiece of education? We read books and publications, listen to lectures and podcasts, but rarely do we play games. #wargaming #PME #usmc #education #progress #change
Paul Precour
8mo
We used Tom Clancy and Larry Bond's tabletop wargame 'Harpoon' in the 1980s for shipboard ASW training. The Data Annexes that were published at the time were actually a little more concise than the 'official' publications we received for training (i.e. number of shafts on undersea combatants and blades per shaft. bonus points if you know why this is important for ASW Operators) and learned what a 'knuckle' is in avoiding passive/active and/or wake homing fish in the water. That, and a little Game Theory went a long way. On a lighter note, I DO miss my yearly 'Jane's Naval Ships of the World' (which started off as a wargame as well) updates and errata.
Cody it’s the paper you just wrote for class!
Joseph Chretien
8mo
It's hard to get past POI.
John Unden
8mo
Thanks for posting this Shane! We do wargaming at Looking Glass USA. Here's a recent simulation work I did simulating an attack on a port: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/looking-glass-global-services_looking-glass-simulated-attack-on-a-major-activity-7187106295320125441-8fd0?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop
U.S. Marine | Historian
8moThere is a ton of value in wargaming. I would assert that there is value in building a foundation first, though. I tried to introduce wargaming into the curriculum in my NROTC unit. Maybe I failed in execution, but I think most of them just weren't ready yet.