Connections 2000

Opening Remarks

Lecture by many


The following is a series of comments and remarks that opened the conference exploring the merger of military simulations and commercial wargames.--RL

Col. James Ruttler: Commandant, College of Aerospace Doctrine, Research, and Education

Simulations have to compress a lot of information and interaction into a short period of time, at most a couple weeks. Part of the idea for the conference is to explore ways to move away from an attrition model of counting air frames and divisions (amassing armies and conducting long air campaigns) and towards including a more comprehensive representation of the enemy. For example, how do you include characteristics such as the cohesiveness of a regime, or a measure ofthe national will of its people? Just as the world is changing, so too must our simulations.

Lt. Gen. Lance Ward: commander, Air University

These are changing times, and over the next 20 to 30 years, the demands on our military will continue to increase. If we are to outsource items such as simulations and wargames, then the commercial faction out there must understand out doctrines and strategies, and also lead to an exchange of information.

Lt. Col. Matt Caffrey: Co-chair of the conference, Professor of Wargaming, Air Command and Staff College

Wargames save lives. We train, and that includes wargame, in order to reduce casualties when it comes to a real war. Since no one person knows everything, by bringing the civilian and military together over simulations, we'll be able to create more accurate wargames to simulate reality.

Col. Thomas Ardern: Director, USAF Wargaming Institute

We try to wargame six to 10 years out. Fortunately, we know Department of Defense weaponry, but we still have to do a lot of guessing about what is likely to occur in the future.

We try to keep the games at operational level, from crisis and action planning to war termination, and they run roughly four to eight days. As an example, we have roughly 700 students participating in 11 games (10 of them manually umpired, and one computerized). The trick is to be able to interpret operational orders ofthe participant, and allow a good level of detail, without a lot of hired help.

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