War-Game Non-Surprises

by phil on Friday Mar 28, 2003 3:52 PM
war

War-Gamed - Why the Army shouldn't be so surprised by Saddam's moves. By Fred Kaplan "For instance—and here is where he displayed prescience—Van Riper used motorcycle messengers to transmit orders to Red troops, thereby eluding Blue's super-sophisticated eavesdropping technology. He maneuvered Red forces constantly. At one point in the game, when Blue's fleet entered the Persian Gulf, he sank some of the ships with suicide-bombers in speed boats." But this was too cunning, and in the war game of Blues vs. Reds, the Blue chose to just reset the game and start over. So, conclusion, the war games we spent $250 mill on were dumb. (not really, but sure)... (note, red vs. blue pill symbol)

UPDATE: the way to make a good war-game would just to learn from the Dungeon Master kids from High School. All you need is like one really fair DM, and then you get a bunch of ppl rolling dice and making moves. Bam, that'll cost you, like, nothing. Star Wars nerds would pay $ and antiques just to participate in such an event.

UPDATE2: And, ironically and sadly, the Iraqi's DID end up using suicide bombers.