Horizons - United States Special Operations Command

The pUrpOSe OF WarGaMinGBy Mr. Mike Poncin and Major Bradley Hodges, USAF“ The basic problems facing the world today are notsusceptible to a military solution.”– John F. KennedyUSSOCOM WargamesThe United States Special Operations Command(USSOCOM) participates in a variety of wargamesthat address warfighter requirements in the futureglobal environment. Wargame events are valuableopportunities for USSOCOM personnel to interactwith the joint community, inter-agency community, andcoalition partners in order to influence future joint policy,doctrine, and operational capabilities. Within USSOCOMheadquarters, the Directorate of Futures (SOKF-J9) hasthe responsibility of exploring these opportunities andserves as USSOCOM’s clearinghouse for innovative ideas.J9 uses the USSOCOM Vision and Long Range PlanningProcess to develop Special Operations Forces (SOF)future concepts, which are then wargamed in a realisticfuture environment. The resulting insights lead to limitedobjective experiments being conducted on select conceptsin order to further refine them. Wargames and follow-onexperiments are chosen carefully based on USSOCOMidentified needs. Each must have a joint contextthat allows USSOCOM to explore new SOF concepts,technologies, tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs)consistent with the Commander’s focus and guidance. Thevenues must have objectives and scenarios that correlatewith USSOCOM’s vision, mission, and priorities.Wargames, Exercises, andExperimentationWhat is the difference between a wargame, an exercise,and experimentation? The distinction between thesethree is not well understood. In fact, many people usethe three terms almost interchangeably. A wargame isgenerally a simulated campaign, designed to test militarystrategic and operational concepts without maneuveringactual forces. The IAW CJCSI 3010.02B wargame providesan opportunity for members within the joint conceptcommunity to compete ideas in the form of an assessmentor quantitative analysis. Wargames provide a forum to26 Horizons – Helping sHape tHe Future oF soFclosely examine the concept, formulate recommendations,and make decisions to generate more viable capabilitiesand solutions.On the other hand, an exercise usually involves theuse of actual forces to evaluate whether or not a jointor service-centric force can execute operations outlinedin OPLANs, CONPLANs, and other mandated campaignplans. Exercises are military maneuvers or simulatedwartime operations involving planning, preparation, andexecution. They are carried out for the purpose of trainingand evaluation but may provide insight to potential jointforce employment methods. Exercises are also designedas training events for warfighters from the operationalleveldown to the tactical-level to demonstrate requiredproficiency levels in military plans and operations. Thus,wargames focus on future capabilities, while exercisesfocus on current capabilities.Experimentation is the third term described and usuallyinvolves testing technical solutions to address capabilitygaps, but may also involve non-material solutions aswell. Experimentation venues or seminars are usuallyscoped to evaluate portions of concepts and capabilitiesthat will enhance the joint force in the future. Thesevenues or seminars involve concept and mission-basedexperimentation events to test new TTPs and/or technicalsolutions that meet the future challenges of a rapidlychanging global environment.Wargames and experimentation reinforce the factthat critical thinking is necessary to develop capabilitiesin support of future requirements. Properly plannedwargames and their outputs can be used to explore andilluminate, or simulate, some feature or aspect of humanbehavior that directly bears on the conduct of war. AtUSSOCOM, a wargame planner seeks to design a gameevent that helps frame, examine, and refine key aspects orcapabilities to conduct special operations both now and inthe future.