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A General Covers an Army War Game
by SWJ Editors
A General Covers an Army War Game - Lt. Gen. David Barno, U.S. Army (ret.), Foreign Policy's The Best Defense.
The annual "Unified Quest" futures war game held recently at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was pretty impressive -- and also a refreshing change from my many previous forays.
Led by the human energizer Brigadier "HR" McMaster, this forum kicked off as a Very-Different-from-the-Big-Army event by enforcing a "NO POWERPOINT" rule. (OK, they showed about five slides over four-plus days.) Army insiders recognize how fundamentally heart-stopping this notion is among any audience of generals. A four-day conversation -- scary for some, I know!
Although labeled a "war game" (and based on some scarily realistic scenarios), this week was more of a graduate seminar for a fistful of Army generals and senior civilians, as well as a smattering of U.S. allies and partners. 4-star TRADOC Commander Marty Dempsey chaired all four days 00 a huge commitment that I've never seen made by his predecessors in earlier years...
More at The Best Defense.
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Comments
Just a side question....wasn't BG McMaster promoted to BG a few years ago now? Seems every time I see his name it's connected to some TRADOC function. When is he going to be unleashed on the FORSCOM world?
Questions I might have asked:
Are we happy where we are re: our ability to out-smart, convince, deter, and if necessary, to defeat potential adversaries?
If not, why not, and what measures must be taken to gain -- or regain -- these out-smart/convince/deter/defeat abilities/capabilities?
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this discussion/war game. Lot's of interesting topics (most discussed at length on SWJ), such as:
"How are we defining -- and teaching -- Risk?" How to inculcate a culture of initiative and risk-taking -- not risk aversion? What is the message to young leaders of the recent investigations into tough combat actions?
Labeled a 'war game'based on some scarily realistic scenarios.