New Course of Action Wargaming, Rehearsal of Concept and Red Teaming Doctrine
This is a cross-post from the LBS Blog page as it is both a Blog item and a Resource – and we’d hate you to miss it!
I was delighted to be asked to write the sections in the new UK Staff Officers’ Handbook (Land) (SOHB) on Course of Action (COA) Wargaming, Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drills and Red Teaming. Due to the amount of potential material that could be included in the SOHB, my original draft has been condensed. This is right and proper as the SOHB must be a useable ‘pocket-size’ guide, not some unapproachable tome. However, some key sections have been omitted or edited. In particular the suggested extra step of Consequence Management has been deleted (Action – Reaction – Counter Action – Consequence Management – Consolidation). Hence I think it would be useful to make the original text I wrote available for those with a specific interest in professional wargaming, COA Wargaming, ROC Drills and Red Teaming. Taken alone, these sections are unclassified, although the overall SOHB is Restricted. I made no changes to the Red Teaming section, this being owned by DCDC. Note the post on the recent (Jan 13) Red Teaming Guide.
The unabridged COA Wargaming/ROC Drill/Red Teaming section for the new SOHB can be downloaded here
New Course of Action Wargaming, Rehearsal of Concept and Red Teaming Doctrine
I was delighted to be asked to write the sections in the new UK Staff Officers’ Handbook (Land) (SOHB) on Course of Action (COA) Wargaming, Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drills and Red Teaming. Due to the amount of potential material that could be included in the SOHB, my original draft has been condensed. This is right and proper as the SOHB must be a useable ‘pocket-size’ guide, not some unapproachable tome. However, some key sections have been omitted or edited. In particular the suggested extra step of Consequence Management has been deleted (Action – Reaction – Counter Action – Consequence Management – Consolidation). Hence I think it would be useful to make the original text I wrote available for those with a specific interest in professional wargaming, COA Wargaming, ROC Drills and Red Teaming. Taken alone, these sections are unclassified, although the overall SOHB is Restricted. I made no changes to the Red Teaming section, this being owned by DCDC. Note the post on the recent (Jan 13) Red Teaming Guide.
The unabridged COA Wargaming/ROC Drill/Red Teaming section for the new SOHB can be downloaded here
New DCDC Red Teaming Guide (January 2013)
The UK Developments, Concepts and Doctrine Centre published Edition 2 of its Red Teaming Guide in January 2013. This is unclassified and available here
Red Teaming is a discrete but related technique to Course of Action (COA) Wargaming. They are often confused, as are COA Wargaming and Rehearsal of Concept (ROC) Drills. The table below sums up the differences. Needless to say, any practitioner of professional wargaming should be conversant with all three techniques.
|
Tool
|
What
|
Why
|
Who
(illustrative)
|
When
|
|
COA Wargaming
|
A systematic method of analysing a plan to visualise the ebb and flow of an operation or campaign
|
To identify risks and areas of weakness in a forming plan
|
Chief Controller (e.g. COS, Bn 2ic)
Blue Team
Red Cell
Staff branches
SMEs
(OA)
(Commander)
(Red Team)
|
During any or all of:
1. COA development
2. COA evaluation
3. COA refinement
|
|
ROC Drill
|
A visual, sequenced rehearsal of a plan
|
To enhance understanding of a formed plan
|
Comd
Chief Controller
Staff branches
Unit/sub-unit commanders
SMEs
|
After orders have been delivered
|
|
Red-teaming
|
The provision of honest, constructive and objective criticism to improve a commander’s decision-making
|
To challenge assumptions and fully explore alternative outcomes to reduce threats and increase opportunities
|
An independently constituted group of SMEs with appropriate skills for the project under consideration
|
Throughout the estimate/7 Questions process
|
Fundamentals of War Gaming, Francis J. McHugh, 1966
The US Naval War College (with Skyhorse Publishing) have reprinted the Fundamentals of War Gaming, by Francis J. McHugh, originally published in 1966. This provides a wonderful snapshot of the state of wargaming at the time. Most of the second half of the book gives a detailed account of the various systems and simulations, both manual and computer, that were in service at the time. Devotees of the history of professional wargaming will find this fascinating.
It is the introductory chapters, however, that contain insights as relevant today as they were in 1966. McHugh relates some wargaming basics that still need reinforcing today, almost 50 years later; the necessity to differentiate between educational/training and analytical wargames, for example. The genesis of wargame-related definitions (and the need for them) is also noteworthy.
If pushed for time just read the first three chapters; the rest, as they say, is history.
Details are:
ISBN: 978-1620876411
Search for ‘US Navy Fundamentals of War Gaming’
Paperback, about £13 or $16
