In the two weeks prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Marine Corps University ran a four-day wargame to simulate the first several days of just such an invasion:
The hope is that students will develop insights from these wargames that help them better understand joint warfighting. In the case of this particular wargame, its near concurrent use with the actual start of the war presents an opportunity to make constructive comparisons and contrasts. Actual events also highlight the importance of the human domain and how difficult it is to effectively model or assess prior to conflict. While the game does make allowance for aspects of the human domain, it is hard to factor in things like the courageous leadership being demonstrated by Zelenskyy and its impact on the will of the fighting forces and the Ukrainian people.
One must be very careful when using a wargame for predictive purposes. But, on the other hand, no one involved in this wargame has been much surprised by anything unfolding on the ground. Almost all of it took place within the game or was discussed at length among the players. This is in contrast with nearly every expert and pundit on the airwaves, who are expressing astonishment at how this conflict is unfolding. If this wargame had been played at the Pentagon or the White House in the weeks leading up to the war, no strategist or policymaker would be shocked by any event so far seen in the war.
Oh yeah, the geniuses at the Pentagon and the White House have it all figured out, which explains our brilliant victories in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria…
Spare me.
War game all you want it doesn’t change reality. Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.
I want to remind people how I have been very pro electric car for a long time. In a few months when the price of gas goes through the roof and you are emptying your wallets as you pump fuel into your vehicles, think of how you could have not worried about the price of gas at all.
This is exactly the reason I’m for electric cars. It’s not for some silly eco-nut reasons, although those are nice. It’s about national and personal security.
So…I told you so.
A key question for a War Game is — What are the objectives of the direct participants and of the other parties who may get involved? Success or failure depends on the objectives of the parties.
For example, what is the objective of the US in the current conflict in the Ukraine? Is it to protect the right of (foreign) people to self-determination and protect them from violence? In which case, should the US have intervened on behalf of the people of the Donbass who have been under attack by the Ukrainians for the sin of seeking self-government?
What is the objective of Russia? Is it to prevent US/NATO from positioning offensive weapons on its borders (as Russia has publicly declared)? Or is it to re-establish the former USSR, as some Westerners have claimed (without evidence)?
What is the objective of Poland? Did Poland want large numbers of fleeing Ukrainians? Did Poland want to get involved in a shooting war with Russia?
We would need to know the objectives of each party to know who “won” the War Game.
My plan for when I get punched in the face is to kick the other guy in the nuts and then whale on him something fierce.
No battle plan survives an encounter with me.
Success or failure is all about who’s left standing when the fight is over. That’s in real life. Games are something else. And war games are an attempt to split the difference – learn on the cheap.
I want to see Russia humiliated so that Putin is toppled. I’m not the least bit interested in conspiracy theories or spin about who started it, and I’m bored with the friggin’ Jews. Pooty Poot sucks, and that’s an objective, undeniable fact. The world can only get better after he’s gone.
I don’t care if Ukrainia is secretly run by Reptilians from planet Znort. Screw that guy.
Putler derangement syndrome, what a bizarre sight to see.
Can you imagine? All those people around you that you thought were real people, one day, poof, a flick of a switch, and instant NPCification.
Why do you want to see Putin toppled, Harry? What’s in it for us? Russia flat-out controlled Ukraine for hundreds of years, without it being any threat to the US. The Russians had an empire and an autocratic government for hundreds of years, without it being any threat to the US. The only thing that ever brought us into conflict with Russia was communism, and that’s gone now. Who gives a rat’s patoot who runs Russia, as long as they are not a threat to us? If the Russians want a new leader, I wish them well, but who runs Russia is their decision, not ours.
Those who spend too much time on Twitter or on Lame Stream Media seem to have this view that Putin is almost as evil as Trump.
It never occurs to them that, if Putin is removed from office one way or another, the person who replaces Putin is probably going to be much more of a hard liner.
The conflict between US/NATO and Russia has all been driven by “Our Guys”, not by the Russians. Replace Putin with anyone you want — it won’t change the Russian response to US/NATO aggression. We need to get our side under control before they trigger a thermonuclear conflagration!
Harry Jones says, “I want to see Russia humiliated so that Putin is toppled.”
Likely because, the Jews were having such a good time sucking the life out of Russia before Putin came in and stopped them. Got to be pay back,
“I’m not the least bit interested in conspiracy theories or spin about who started it.”
You’ve seen this play book tactic before. Hillary used this a lot and so do the Jews. I expect she got it from them. They would do some sort of heinous thing. Slowly leak what happened then when the news got intense about the issue say,”oh yeah that was a long time ago. We already covered that. Done deal. Can’t go back, etc., etc. What does it matter at this point?(heard that??) blah, blah, blah”. The add o tactic to this is to acknowledge the evil behavior but then…bring up a whole vast slew of conflicting facts, mostly lies, about the event to confuse the whole issue. They did this with 9-11. Certain Jews said,”Oh yeah, 9-11 was an inside job.” Then proceeded to blame it on everyone but the Jews. The Arabs, the Pope, the Queen of England, and to blame the method of failure of the buildings on the wildest of mechanisms such that no one would take any of the evidence as having any meaning at all.
“…and I’m bored with the friggin’ Jews…”
So am I, but not for the same reasons. You because you want to bury what they are doing. Me because I want them to stop.
They are or may be, from reports I’ve seen related to bioengineering of pathogens, either doing or are close to exterminating large swaths of people based on genetics. Now I don’t want them to do this so I can stop hearing and writing about them and all their heinous, vile, evil, psychopathic behavior, but you want to not hear about them to cover up what they have been doing.
What this amounts to is a total complete commitment to gas-lighting everyone to the “BEHAVIOR” of the Jews. No one cars that they are Jews. No one cares if they dress funny. No one cares what their religion is, but they care a great deal about their behavior, which is really, really bad and evil.
“Americans”, in America, are confident that Putin and Russia are simply holding America/Jews accountable. Because the American/Israeli government lies, and easily manipulates foreign governments. That is why there is war.