June 5,2008:
One of the many little feuds going
on in the upper ranks of the U.S. Navy has to do with training officers how to
fight, or not, as many believe. It comes down to how many training exercises
and wargames (simulated, on a computer, exercises) should be scripted (few
decisions), or "free wargaming." At the moment, most of the exercises are
scripted. That is, the major activities in the exercise are contained in a
script, and the participants cannot deviate from those major plot points. This
is done largely because of the large number of exercises that are run, at all
levels (from a part of the crew, up to a task force with many ships) to make
sure everyone knows the many, and often complex, procedures everyone must go
through to get the job done. Running a ship, and ships operating together, is a
very complex business. So these exercises (often called drills at the lower
levels) are necessary. But a minority of captains and admirals insist that,
without training exercises that allow the unexpected, and the opportunity to
deal with it, commanders won't really be ready for combat. This is "free
wargaming," where a scenario lays out who is involved (and with what kinds of
ships, equipment and land based material), what the objectives ("victory
conditions") are, and then lets the commanders have at it. Many commanders find
this messy and unconvincing.
The navy
still does some free wargaming, but even this is controversial, for the
preferred format is the BOGSAT (Big Old
Guys, Sitting Around a Table). This is similar to role playing games (like
Dungeons & Dragons), where more emphasis is placed on the interaction
between the participants, than the technical aspects of the battle that
commanders would have to deal with.
The golden
age of U.S. Navy free wargaming was the 1930s when, during a series of live and
simulated wargames, the navy worked out all aspects (except Kamimazes, no one
saw that coming) of the battles they were to encounter later during World War
II. Free wargaming continued in the navy after World War II, but after the Cold
War ended, there was a shift in leadership style in the navy. A "zero
tolerance" (for lots of things, some of them bad, some just uncomfortable)
atmosphere took over. When this new leadership style was extended to wargames, and
"scripted" became the preferred mode. That's because it was more predictable
and controllable. This is where proponents of free wargaming gag, as they point
out that potential foes are not likely to follow scripts, and may even seek to
exploit them. Defenders of the scripted approach feel that American commanders
can adapt quickly enough, especially if they have all their procedures down
cold. The free wargame advocates respond that history shows that the ability to
adapt is good, but some previous practice with an unpredictable foe is even
more useful.
So far,
the script crew is still in charge, but the free wargame proponents are
gathering strength, especially after army and marine commanders, with recent
combat experience, again confirm the usefulness of experience dealing with the
unexpected.