{"id":29050,"date":"2024-03-21T13:48:37","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T13:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/03\/21\/marine-wargames-offer-a-look-at-the-future-and-fuel-dissent\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T21:08:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T21:08:44","slug":"marine-wargames-offer-a-look-at-the-future-and-fuel-dissent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/training-sim\/2024\/03\/21\/marine-wargames-offer-a-look-at-the-future-and-fuel-dissent\/","title":{"rendered":"Marine wargames offer a look at  the future \u2014 and fuel dissent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When Lieutenant Georg Heinrich \u00adRudolph Johann von Reisswitz of the Prussian army presented his new game to his military leaders in 1824, wargames weren\u2019t a new phenomenon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/26397333\" target=\"_blank\">The board game Reisswitz had crafted<\/a> was an update of a prototype by his father, which itself was indebted to earlier wargames derived from chess, Milan Vego recounted in a 2012 article in the Naval War College Review. Like its predecessors, the junior Reisswitz\u2019s game involved two sides of few players each making decisions about simulated military maneuvers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the game was revolutionary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It brought a new level of reality to wargaming: a detailed map as the gameboard, umpires who challenged the players with realistic scenarios and precise calculations of casualties, Vego wrote. Karl von Mueffling, the chief of the general staff of the army, was mightily impressed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s not a game at all!\u201d Mueffling \u00adexclaimed, according to Vego. \u201cIt\u2019s training for war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/03\/17\/this-marine-vet-created-a-wargame-for-enlisted-leaders\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Littoral-Commander-Game_Bae.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">This Marine vet created a wargame for enlisted leaders<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The game is being played by units and is available for order by anyone.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Prussian army adopted the game as a tool to train for battle. And two \u00adcenturies later, militaries are still using games to simulate aspects of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Marine Corps, which has rethought its approach to fighting in recent years, uses wargames to explore the tough problems it might be forced to confront in war. These mostly classified games have become yet another focus of the conflict over the future of the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Marine leaders say the results of wargames are one justification for the controversial changes they have made to the force, such as the divestment of tanks and the reduction of cannon artillery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics of the changes have raised concerns about the games themselves, arguing they were unsound and didn\u2019t lend support to the changes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Did the Corps conduct its wargames properly and draw the right insights from them? Supporters of the changes say yes \u2014 and their view has carried the day, since the service already is years into its ambitious overhaul with the support of Congress and the Pentagon. Some critics still say no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Corps has said wargame results helped underpin its decisions aimed at making sure Marines are ready to fight, and win, the next war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For the Marines who may one day carry out new kinds of operations, while armed with new weapons systems, the stakes of these games are high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>What wargaming is \u2014 and isn\u2019t<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wargames try to simulate aspects of armed conflict, imperfectly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In wargames, as in war, human beings on opposing sides make a series of decisions that have consequences for what happens next. Unlike in war, no one gets hurt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Generally, the competitors in a professional wargame are the \u201cblue cell\u201d \u2014 the home team of sorts, representing friendly forces \u2014 and the \u201cred cell,\u201d representing enemy forces, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rand.org\/pubs\/research_reports\/RR2227.html\" target=\"_blank\">a 2019 Rand report<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A white cell often adjudicates how the game progresses as the blue and red cells make their moves. Sometimes a green cell represents allied forces or civilians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days, computers often play a role in wargames, according to retired Marine Lt. Col. Travis Reese, who as a contractor has helped develop scenarios and wargames pertaining to Marine Corps modernization since 2017. But many wargames still involve people laying a map out on a table and, given a detailed scenario, making the tough decisions a commander might face in war, according to Reese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There are two broad categories of wargames: educational and analytical, according to retired Marine Maj. Ian T. Brown, who worked with educational wargames while at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation &#038; Future Warfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"5571\" height=\"3979\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-65007\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg 5571w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg?resize=300,214 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg?resize=768,549 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,731 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1097 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/28_MAR-WAR-GAME-INSIDE-1.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1463 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 5571px) 100vw, 5571px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A student describes his strategy during hands-on exercises at the Basic Analytic Wargaming Course taught by the Naval Postgraduate School Wargaming Mobile Education Team in 2021. (Thomas Mort\/Army)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In educational wargames, the focus is on the players and their learning, according to Brown. In analytical wargames, the focus is on better understanding the problems that the games simulate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wargames can\u2019t predict how a real war would unfold or even how the same wargame would turn out if it were played again. They can\u2019t \u201cvalidate\u201d real-life decisions, several wargaming experts cautioned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn essence wargaming is an exercise in human interaction, and the interplay of human decisions and the outcomes of those decisions makes it impossible for two games to be the same,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CNA_org\/status\/1749545246285861374\" target=\"_blank\">the influential wargamer<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jstor.org\/stable\/44637075\" target=\"_blank\">Peter Perla and Navy Lt. Cmdr. Raymond Barrett wrote<\/a> in the Naval War College Review in 1985.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And no wargame can capture the complexity of real life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wargame designers must keep a narrow scope and assume, for the games\u2019 purposes, that some things will work the way they are supposed to, freeing them up to play with other variables, according to Reese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYou can never do everything in detail that you need to do to simulate a fight perfectly,\u201d Reese said. \u201cIt\u2019s just too many things to put together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The limitations of wargames are many, but so are their possibilities, these wargaming experts said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Educational wargames can sharpen service members\u2019 abilities to make good decisions when in a conflict with an adversary, Brown said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analytical wargames can \u201cinvestigate processes\u201d and \u201cexplore questions of strategy, human behavior and warfighting trends,\u201d Perla and Barrett wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Quantico, Virginia\u2013based Warfighting Lab has its own wargaming division to conduct these kinds of wargames.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Its major wargames tend to take place in a Marine Corps University auditorium, with the cells huddled on different sides of the room, division director Col. George Schreffler said. The cells get briefed for about a day and spend about three days making the moves that form the meat of a wargame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The players, ranging in number from about 30 to 150, work long days that start at around 7:30 a.m., with a break for a \u00adbrown-bag lunch, according to Schreffler. The adjudicators from the Wargaming Division sometimes work overnight sorting out the implications of the players\u2019 decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the end of the week, the players \u00addebrief the game, explaining their choices. The Wargaming Division writes a \u00adpreliminary report on the game and then a more fleshed-out analytical \u00adreport, which typically takes two to three months, according to Schreffler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Well-conducted wargames can usher players into a mental zone called \u201cthe magic circle,\u201d in which they accept the virtual world and make decisions that feel real within it, Brown said. In this magic circle, players emotionally engage with what happens in the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThat\u2019s actually a very valuable psychological dynamic, because it makes your experience stick with you in a way that you remember,\u201d Brown said. \u201cAnd if you remember it, you can assess it yourself, and you can learn from it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Preparing for war<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Analytical wargames have been at the center of the Marine Corps\u2019 bold, and controversial, overhaul plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That plan \u2014 called Force Design 2030, though leaders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/02\/01\/marine-leaders-drop-2030-from-name-of-ambitious-overhaul-plan\/\" target=\"_blank\">recently dropped the \u201c2030\u2033<\/a> \u2014 was championed by now-retired Gen. David Berger, who served as commandant from 2019\u20132023 and before that was the deputy commandant for combat development and integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From 2016 to 2018, before Berger was in those two modernization-focused roles, he was the leader of Marine Forces \u00adPacific. It was at that job that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/fp_20230523_usmc_berger_transcript.pdf\" target=\"_blank\">he witnessed a series of worrisome wargames<\/a>, he said at a \u00adBrookings Institution event in May 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The games convinced him the Corps had to evolve if it didn\u2019t want to lose a fight with China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf we don\u2019t change something, the same result is going to happen every time,\u201d Berger recalled thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/naval\/2023\/07\/07\/how-marine-commandant-berger-became-the-poster-child-for-change\/\" target=\"_blank\">A 2018 wargame Berger observed<\/a> at the Naval War College in Newport, Rhode Island, indicated to him that Marine forces needed to be lighter, more mobile and positioned closer to the possible sites of conflict in the Indo-Pacific and China, he told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2023\/07\/07\/how-marine-commandant-berger-became-the-poster-child-for-change\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/5722055.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">How Marine Commandant Berger became \u2018the poster child for change\u2019<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Gen. David Berger relinquishes command on July 10, after four years of reforms that will shape the Marine Corps for years to come.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2019, Berger devoted three of the 23 pages of text in his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hqmc.marines.mil\/Portals\/142\/Docs\/%2038th%20Commandant%27s%20Planning%20Guidance_2019.pdf?ver=2019-07-16-200152-700\" target=\"_blank\">commandant\u2019s planning guidance<\/a> to wargames, including what they have \u201cshown\u201d the Corps needed to change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He already had decided that the Corps needed to become capable of spreading out on and near shore, fending off enemy naval forces, and avoiding getting tracked and hit by long-range fires, he wrote in the guidance. Wargames would \u201crapidly produce solutions for further development in accordance with my guidance and vision.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/03\/22\/goodbye-tanks-how-the-marine-corps-will-change-and-what-it-will-lose-by-ditching-its-armor\/\" target=\"_blank\">Divestments of tanks<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/04\/09\/how-a-marine-corps-shift-to-long-ranges-may-change-its-strong-cannoneer-tradition\/\" target=\"_blank\">artillery<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2021\/10\/28\/all-3-marine-law-enforcement-battalions-are-now-deactivated\/\" target=\"_blank\">law \u00adenforcement personnel<\/a> and more \u00adfollowed. So did <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/naval\/2020\/06\/01\/in-his-fight-to-change-the-corps-americas-top-marine-takes-friendly-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\">controversy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Critics of the changes, including several retired Marine leaders, have voiced concerns that the Corps was focusing too much on China and losing its ability to assert itself in conflicts elsewhere \u2014 and that even a fight with China would go poorly because of these divestments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One skeptic is Scott Moore, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel who holds a doctorate in conflict analysis and resolution and who as a BAE Systems contractor observed and analyzed wargames at the Warfighting Lab between 2016\u20132021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he took issue with the timing of the divestments relative to wargames. The games he was involved in didn\u2019t lend support to those changes, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose decisions, to my mind, were made absent any wargames,\u201d he told \u00adMarine Corps Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/05\/31\/bidens-pick-to-lead-the-marine-corps-helped-design-its-new-vision\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gen. Eric Smith<\/a>, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/09\/22\/top-marine-leader-sworn-in-1-day-after-senate-confirmation\/\" target=\"_blank\">became the Marine commandant<\/a> in September 2023, has said the Marine Corps shouldn\u2019t wait until concepts are totally fleshed out \u00adbefore implementing them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That would take too much time, he said in October 2023 on a <a href=\"https:\/\/warontherocks.com\/2023\/10\/a-conversation-with-the-commandant-gen-eric-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\">War on the Rocks podcast<\/a>. And with changing administrations and budgets, and adversaries who are modernizing their own militaries, time isn\u2019t something the Corps can afford to lose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIf you wait until it\u2019s completely validated, you\u2019ll get nowhere,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Current Marine leaders have insisted the force needed to modernize given the threat of the Chinese military. Even in its revamped form, these leaders have said, the Corps remains ready to respond worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wargames are just one element in the Corps\u2019 \u201cvirtuous cycle\u201d of learning, according to Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">First, the Marine Corps develops a concept, Smith said. Next comes a wargame. Then Marines do an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/01\/04\/new-in-2024-phase-2-of-marine-infantry-battalion-experiment-kicks-off\/\" target=\"_blank\">experiment in the field<\/a> with real equipment. Finally, the Corps \u00adincorporates feedback from these efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOne wargame is one wargame,\u201d Smith said. \u201cIt\u2019s a data point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cNow, when I see 17 data points aligned and moving in a certain path or a certain trajectory, OK, now I\u2019m interested.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>Logistics, logistics, logistics<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But what if, some critics of Force Design have asked, those data points came from wargames that were fundamentally flawed?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moore said the wargames he observed made too-optimistic assumptions, especially about logistics and mobility: that the \u00adMarines would be in the theater ready to fight when conflict broke out, that ship-to-shore vessels would come ashore without issues, that civilians would help Marines get food and supplies locally, that roads and bridges would be in good shape. He said the games also assumed uninterrupted command and control, sufficient air defenses and lack of detection by adversaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThose were the assumptions that we never were allowed to test,\u201d Moore said. \u201cAnd those underpin the entire Force \u00adDesign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A source who has firsthand knowledge of Marine Corps wargames and participated in some himself, and spoke on condition of anonymity, said he also had concerns about logistics being assumed away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s like a play,\u201d he said. \u201cThe curtain goes up, and everyone\u2019s on stage, and then we play. But how did everyone get on the stage?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A now-retired senior Marine officer recalled asking questions about logistics while getting briefed on the results of the Corps\u2019 wargames. How would Marines and their equipment be moved to the fight? How would they be sustained? How would these logistics efforts evade the enemy\u2019s notice?<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/06\/22\/top-marine-pushes-back-on-critics-lack-of-trust-in-corps-overhaul\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/berger-chairman.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Top Marine pushes back on critics\u2019 \u2018lack of trust\u2019 in Corps\u2019 overhaul<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">\u201cNone of this is fabricated by one or two people,\u201d Gen. David Berger said about the sweeping changes to the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cEvery time, it was like, \u2018Sir, that\u2019s a great question,\u2019\u201d said the retired Marine, who spoke on condition of anonymity for professional reasons. He said he never got those questions answered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proponents of Force Design argue a lack of emphasis on logistics in some wargames does not mean those games were entirely flawed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The wargames that Moore observed \u00adoccurred early in the Force Design \u00adprocess, Reese noted. The games had to constrain \u201csome chatter and some noise\u201d so the Corps could begin to answer the questions it had about the nascent overhaul, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cA lot of the games that, quote-unquote, \u2018didn\u2019t address logistics\u2019 weren\u2019t designed to, because it was going for a different problem,\u201d said Lt. Col. Leo Spaeder, a \u00adlogistics officer who worked at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab from 2018\u20132021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spaeder acknowledged that \u201cthere were very, very unlikely and very favorable logistics assumptions made\u201d in some games when he first got to the lab. But that soon changed, in part thanks to the 2018 arrival of now-retired Col. Tim \u00adBarrick as head of the Wargaming Division, according to Spaeder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These days, Marine Corps leaders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marinecorpstimes.com\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2023\/03\/21\/marines-update-logistics-doctrine-from-1997-heres-whats-inside\/\" target=\"_blank\">make clear they aren\u2019t ignoring logistics<\/a>. Far from it, they say: In his final year as commandant, Berger repeatedly declared his focus was \u201clogistics, logistics, logistics.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the past three years at the Wargaming Division, 40% or more of the games have been specifically geared toward \u00adexamining logistics, according to Schreffler.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Logistics \u201care gap areas that the Marine Corps has considered, continues to work on and is very alert to,\u201d Schreffler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In interviews with Marine Corps Times, those with knowledge of the wargames spoke about them in general terms. That is because the Corps keeps the results of many of the analytical wargames classified \u2014 a fact that has provided more fuel for criticism from those with concerns about Force Design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI have not heard or seen anything of any weapons systems or any tactic that would justify the classification of these games, other than the fact that they really didn\u2019t want people to know what they were up to,\u201d said retired Marine Col. Gary Anderson, who retired as chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory in 2000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reese pushed back on the idea that high levels of classification allowed the games to evade scrutiny. Before Berger could make changes, he had to have \u00adbuy-in from civilian Defense Department leaders and legislators, Reese said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Corps keeps wargame details classified for good reason, Schreffler maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere are, in fact, secrets that need to be protected from adversaries, who if they had the information, would immediately use it to develop counters to the capabilities the Marine Corps is developing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><b>What comes next<\/b><\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In coming years, the Wargaming Division plans to do more wargaming than ever before \u2014 about 20 big games a year, up from eight to 10, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/audio\/75930\/equipping-corps-s2-e22-wargaming-and-analysis-with-col-george-schreffler\" target=\"_blank\">Schreffler said<\/a> on a Corps podcast in August 2023. Enabling that will be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/training-sim\/2021\/09\/07\/new-war-gaming-center-to-speed-up-weapon-deliveries-to-us-marines\/\" target=\"_blank\">the large facility now under construction<\/a> on the campus of the Marine Corps University in Quantico, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Named for retired Gen. Robert Neller, who championed wargaming while serving as commandant from 2015\u20132019, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/posts\/marine-corps-systems-command_marines-take-center-stage-in-wargaming-boom-activity-7129806492853002243-jglC\/\" target=\"_blank\">$79 million<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marines.mil\/News\/Press-Releases\/Press-Release-Display\/Article\/3483276\/naming-of-the-marine-corps-wargaming-and-analysis-center\/\" target=\"_blank\">100,446-square-foot<\/a> center is set to reach initial operational capability in 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Neller Center will allow more games, at a bigger scale, with better technology for analyzing data, according to Schreffler. The center will have remote capabilities, meaning a Marine in California could examine a problem through a wargame without booking a cross-country flight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A defining characteristic of wargames \u2014 whether played on a map or through the cloud \u2014 is, according to the 2019 Rand report, that players make decisions and end up \u201cliving with the consequences of their actions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the wargames that inform the path of change the Marine Corps is pursuing have consequences of their own. When Marines and Marine veterans argue about wargames, they are also arguing about war: how to prepare for it and how to fight it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Corps has an obligation to the more than 30,000 Marines now positioned overseas to get its transformation right, Berger told the audience at the Modern Day Marine conference in June 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey are our sons and daughters, and we owe them an unfair fight,\u201d Berger said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reisswitz\u2019s wargame was no game, a Prussian general observed in 1824 \u2014 but war is no wargame. People live and die with the consequences.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>For the Marines who may one day carry out new kinds of operations, the stakes of these games are 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