Wargaming and Military Culture: Education and Cohesion-Building

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Wargaming and Military Culture Education and
Cohesion-Building

• Eric M. Walters, MA MSSI
• Professor of Land Warfare, Military History, and
  Intelligence
• American Military University

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Agenda

• Some Definitions
• The Goals of Military Culture
• Symptoms of an Underdeveloped Military Culture
• The Cultural Paradox
• Wargaming Parables
• Wargaming and Education
• Wargaming and Cohesion
• Future Wargame Requirements

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Definitions

• Culture 4.a) development, improvement, or
  refinement of the mind,b) the result of this,
  refined ways of thinking, talking, acting,etc.6.
  The ideas, customs, skills, arts, etc., of a
  given people in a given period.

Websters New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition, p. 345.
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Definitions

• Education 1. The process of training and
  developing the knowledge, mind, character, etc.,
  especially by formal schooling teaching
  training 2. Knowledge, ability, etc., thus
  developed 3.a) formal schooling at an
  institution of learning b) a stage of this 4.
  Systematic study of the methods and theories of
  teaching and learning.

Websters New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition, p. 444.
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Definitions

• Cohesion 1. The act of condition of cohering
  tendency to stick together...
• Cohere 1.a) to stick together, as parts of a
  mass2. To be connected naturally or logically,
  as by a common principle be consistent 3. To
  become or stay united in action be in accord.

Websters New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition, p. 276.
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Definitions

• Wargame 1. Same as KRIEGSPIEL 2. Practice
  maneuvers involving actual troops and military
  equipment.
• Kriegspiel a game for teaching or practicing
  military tactics by the use of small figures
  representing troops, tanks, etc., moved about on
  a large map or representation of the terrain.

Websters New World Dictionary of the American
Language, Second College Edition, pp. 783 1601.
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The Goal of Military Culture

• The essential thing is action. Action has three
  stages the decision born of thought, the order
  or preparation for execution, and the execution
  itself. All three stages are governed by will.
  The will is rooted in character, and for the man
  of action, character is of more critical
  importance than intellect. Intellect without
  will is worthless, will without intellect is
  dangerous.

Hans von Seeckt, Thoughts of a Soldier, p. 123
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Symptoms of an Underdeveloped Culture--in Planning

• The clearest evidence ofdeficiency is too much
  communication--reams of orders and directives
  which in the planning stage are little more than
  generalities and exhortations, and which defer
  too much to the moment of decision.

CAPT Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., USN (Ret.) Fleet
Tactics and Coastal Combat, Second Edition, p. 31
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Symptoms of an Underdeveloped Culture--in
Execution

• From A Band of Brothers? Multi-Player Games
• If you hold the chief command, among other
  things you will learn that
• 1) Your subordinates cannot read your
  handwriting.
• 2) Your subordinates cannot tell left from right.
• 3) Your subordinates cannot grasp the simplest
  concepts of maneuver.
• 4) Threats of physical violence are often
  necessary to secure compliance with your orders.

S. Craig Taylor, Fighting Sails, The General
Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Jul-Aug 1976), p. 5.
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Symptoms of an Underdeveloped Culture--in
Execution

• If you hold a subordinate command, you will
  learn that
• 1) You cannot read the commanders handwriting.
• 2) The commander keeps issuing orders to turn
  left when the situation obviously calls for
  turning to the right.
• 3) The commander must think you can read his mind
  to even attempt such complex maneuvers.
• 4) The commander has a nasty temper.

S. Craig Taylor, Fighting Sails, The General
Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 2 (Jul-Aug 1976), p. 5.
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The Cultural Paradox

• Draw any good naval leaderinto a conversation
  on his experienceand it will quickly come out
  that the tactical plan imposed by his seniors was
  to his mind too rigid. He will tell you how he
  maneuvered more cleverly and fired his weapons
  more effectively thanprescribed.

CAPT Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., USN (Ret.) Fleet
Tactics and Coastal Combat, Second Edition, p. 31
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The Cultural Paradox

• In the next breath he will tell you how when he
  was in command his units moved together like
  clockwork. He will swear to you that all his
  captains knew exactly what each teammate would do
  as instinctively as a basketball player knows
  from body language which way his teammate will
  cut. It will never occur to the speaker that
  there is the slightest inconsistency in his
  account.

CAPT Wayne P. Hughes, Jr., USN (Ret.) Fleet
Tactics and Coastal Combat, Second Edition, p. 31
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Coping with the Paradox

• Education Learning about the game (i.e., War)
• Cohesion Learning about the team (i.e., the
  unit)
• What does wargaming/kriegspiel offer?

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What wargaming offers

• Individual experience Education
• The environment
• The opposition
• What works, what does not work (?)
• Self-confidence
• Collective experience Cohesion
• Collective knowledge wisdom resulting from
  individual education
• Trust in each other

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A Wargaming Parable Available in Military
Literature

• Daniel P. Bolgers The Battle For Hunger Hill
  The 1st Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment at the
  Joint Readiness Training Center (1997)
• Laser tag team competitions used to train all
  hands
• Two JRTC rotations demonstrate improvements in
  individual education and collective cohesion

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A Wargaming Parable Available in Science Fiction

• Orson Scott Cards Nebula and Hugo Award Winner
  Enders Game (1977)
• Computer wargames and 3-D zero-G laser tag team
  competitions used to train future commanders
• Used for individual education and building
  collective cohesion

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Wargaming and Education

• Nine-tenths of tactics are certain, and taught
  in books but the irrational tenth is like the
  kingfisher flashing across the pool....It can
  only be ensured by instinct, sharpened by thought
  practicing the stroke so often that at the crisis
  it is as natural as a reflex.

Colonel T. E. Lawrence, The Science of Guerrilla
Warfare, 1926.
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Wargaming and Education One Problem To Be Solved

• I have often seen how pathetic those general
  staff officers are who draw their advice from
  their own observed data, how indecisive and timid
  they are to accomplish anything thatthe
  circumstances demand. Such people do not know
  the risks which must be taken in warThey
  probably never risk a bold idea, since no similar
  situation crowned with success in the past give
  them the necessary self-confidence.

General Gerhard Scharnhorst, quoted in Rudolf
Stadelman, Scharnhorst Schicksal und geistige
Welt, ein Fragment, pp. 155-156
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Wargaming and Education And Another.

• art can be developed, but like hitting a curve
  ball, it takes a bit of innate talent, too. One
  day, if you have it, you look at a situation and
  you get the picture. Some folks, even very
  senior officers, never get it. These men, often
  very bright, insist upon learning all the proper
  buzz words, and chant them repeatedly, as if
  saying them enough would somehow impart
  understanding. Despite Benning, Leavenworth, and
  all the books, such people never quite bridge the
  gap between theory and practice. They look, but
  do not see.

Daniel P. Bolger, The Battle For Hunger Hill, p.
88.
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Historical Antecedents Wargaming and Education

• Ancient Games Chess and Go
• The Prussian Army game Reisswitzs kriegspiel
• Its not a game at all--its training for war!
  Army Chief of Staff, Gen. Von Muffling
• Lots of rules and tables
• Verdy du Vernoiss Simplified War Game
• Relied on umpire experience/judgment

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Historical Antecedents Wargaming and Education

• Commercial Games/Miniatures (H.G. Wells, Fred
  Jane, Fletcher Pratt, Charles Roberts, Jim
  Dunnigan, et. al.)
• Naval War College wargames
• WW II wargames
• German wargames
• Soviet wargames
• Japanese wargames

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Educational Wargaming Today

• Commercial Gaming
• Paintball and Laser Tag
• Board wargames and miniatures
• Computer wargames
• Department of Defense Gaming
• Field Laser Tag NTC, JRTC, and CTC (USA)
• Red Flag (USAF)/Top Gun (USN)/WTI FINEX
  (USMC)
• Adapted commercial games
• Command Post Exercise (CPX) drivers

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Educational Wargaming Issues

• Entertainment versus realism
• Commercial paintball, laser tag, and many
  computer games suffer here
• Game design bias versus realism
• DoD games most prone
• Acquisition imperatives
• C4I system limitations
• Difficulties in translating experience obtained
  from artificial environments to real situations
  in the future

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Wargaming and EducationWorst Case Outcome

• Attempts at realism can be a distraction for
  contemporary situations
• It worked when we did it in substitute exercise
  name here, so it will work again.
• Insert exercise name here validated our
  concepts.
• To mitigate this, include many variables on
  conditions, weapons performance, unit morale, and
  a host of other imponderablesand play it more
  than once!

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Wargaming and EducationBest Case Outcome

• Fighters gain self-confidence from their
  successes and learn from their failures/mistakes.
• Unintended bias is kept to a minimum. Compare
  outcomes to history/combat experience.

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Wargaming and Cohesion

• Four brave men who do not know each other will
  not dare attack a lion. Four less brave, but
  knowing each other well, sure of their
  reliability and consequently of their mutual will
  attack resolutely.

Colonel Charles Ardant du Picq. Battle Studies,
p. 110
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Wargaming and Cohesion One Problem To Be Solved

• The men lacked true battle drills to act on
  contact. Again, home station training, heavily
  laden with live-fire exercises, exacerbated this
  tendency. On the range one could merely leapfrog
  along, with one group shooting while neighbors
  alongside inched forward. The fixed targets
  always obediently remained to the front. Real
  enemies do not so oblige. A big bold flank cures
  that.

Daniel P. Bolger, The Battle For Hunger Hill, p.
132.
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Wargaming and Cohesion And Another.

• Tiger and Griffin soldiers were reduced to
  chanting catcalls, while their commanders argued
  about whether to try to use their overwhelming
  force to attack Dragon Army.Momoe was all for
  attacking--we outnumber him two to one--while
  Bee said, sit tight and we cant lose, move out
  and he can figure out a way to beat us.

Orson Scott Card, Enders Game, p. 152.
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Historical Antecedents Wargaming and Cohesion

• Admiral Horatio Nelson, his captains, and his
  victories
• Tactical wargaming/seminars
• Prussian reformers and the victories of 1813,
  1815, 1866, and 1870
• Kriegspiel
• Staff rides
• Tactical Decision Games

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Contemporary Efforts Wargaming and Cohesion?

• National Training Center (NTC), Combat Training
  Center (CTC), and Joint Readiness Training Center
  (JRTC)?
• Top Gun (USN), Red Flag (USAF), and Weapons
  Tactics Instructor Course (USMC)?
• GAUNTLET training at Fort Knox U.S. Army Armor
  School?
• Computer-driven CPXs

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Wargaming Cohesion Issues

• Training objectives lead to scripted/canned
  scenarios
• The group is not sufficiently stressed
• Opportunities to practice are limited
• Resource limitations (time, space, tools)
• Simulation availability
• Training area/range availability
• The tyranny of the unit training schedule
• Keeping the team together
• Personnel system doesnt encourage this

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Wargaming and CohesionWorst Case Outcome

• The game is rigged for success each time--the
  team is not seriously stressed.
• Small local teams can win at home, but it doesnt
  always mean they are ready to win the
  championship in the Big Leagues.

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Wargaming and CohesionBest Case Outcome

• Individuals within the unit learn under stress
  how each other think and perform they begin to
  trust all members of the team IAW this
  understanding.
• Close personal bonding makes it harder for
  individuals to let down their teammates.

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Future Wargame Requirements

• Strive towards realism (especially for historical
  situations), but include entertainment where you
  can
• Allow changes in performance parameters and
  algorithms, especially in contemporary scenarios
• Include a wide variety of scenario/situation
  types across all conflict spectrums and
  environments
• Land, Air, SeaStrategic, Operational, Tactical
• Ancient through Near Future, even Sci-Fi

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Future Wargame Requirements

• Ensure free play force-on-force
• Always maximize fog and friction
  rheostat/toggle down enemy strength and
  capabilities to work up new units at first
• Maximize available resources
• Obtain commercial solutions put them to work
• Integrate competitive team wargames training
• Allow unstructured practice and play
• Stabilize the unit
• Identify the playing season and keep the team
  together throughout

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Best References/Resources

• Rudolf M. Hofmann, General der Infanterie.
  German Army War Games. Carlisle, PA US Army War
  College, 1983.
• Peter P. Perla. The Art of Wargaming A Guide
  for Professionals and Hobbyists. Annapolis, MD
  Naval Institute Press, 1990.
• James F. Dunnigan, MILGAMES listserv
  http//members.aol.com/jfdunnigan/private/index.ht
  m. Also check out his Professional Wargamers
  Page at URL http//www.strategypage.com/prowg/de
  fault.asp
• Annual CONNECTIONS conferences, coordinated by
  Matthew Caffrey e-mail at ltMatthew.Caffrey_at_MAXWEL
  L.AF.MILgt

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QUESTIONS??