In March, the Chief of Naval Operations and Commandant of the Marine Corps provided a comprehensive response to the Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) Memorandum on Wargaming, which included the establishment of a virtual community of practice (vCOP) for Sailors, Marines, and Civilians with an interest in wargaming.
The SECNAV Memorandum identified wargaming as an invaluable method to assess new ideas, question existing practices, stimulate innovation, and develop new operational concepts in a risk-friendly environment.
Diversity of thought is fundamental to game design and execution. The DON workforce — from all ranks, backgrounds, and professional and academic communities — will create solutions to complex problems and significantly enhance the outcome of wargames. Given its pedigree as the nation's leader in maritime wargaming since 1887, the Naval War College Wargaming Department was designated as the appropriate entity to organize and house the vCOP.
SECNAV Task Force Innovation has provided $885,000 in startup funding for the vCOP, which will have an initial capacity of over 500 participants, low bandwidth access for deployed users, and links to existing wargaming/experimentation web-based repositories. During past periods of geostrategic and technological flux, wargaming has proven to be a useful tool for understanding complex, uncertain environments and the changing character of warfare.
Stay tuned as the vCOP becomes reality!
Reprinted from the DON/SECNAV Innovation website: http://www.secnav.navy.mil/innovation/.
Go to The Hatch now to share your ideas: http://doninnovation.ideascale.com/a/index