Even as far back as the Roman Empire, and probably before, there were boot camps; formal schools where enlistees (or draftees) were taught how to fight. Once that was completed, however, the games began. Exercises where units would split up into “friendly” and “enemy” forces were staged, with all the effort of the real thing.
This continues today when there is enough time, fuel and money to support it. However, in the Winter 2001 issue of the Naval War College Review, Ronald O’Rourke makes the case that the Navy will be under funded by 1.4 billion dollars in operations and maintenance alone. That’s the money we use to keep our vessels, airplanes and bases working properly, and to train our sailors. Without this money, we can’t steam, we can’t fly, and we can’t learn…
Or can we still learn?
This is where the new technology of computer gaming comes in.
War gaming isn’t new. According to the Naval War College website (http://www.nwc.navy.mil), they have been conducting war games since 1887. Imagine if you will, high ranking officers standing around a table, little figurines on a chart-covered table, thinking through every possible strategic scenario that may occur anywhere in the world, and you have an idea of the scope of the games played at the War College.
That was then, though. Now the games have moved into the computer age, and they’re no longer just confined to the War College.
According to Marc Prensky, in an article in Learning Circuits (http://www.learningcircuits.com/2001/feb... US military is the world’s largest spender on, and user of, digital game-based learning.” And why not? It’s cheap, usually effective, and definitely fun. Games are even making it to ships and schools. "Harpoon", "Jane’s Fleet Command", and other games provide a solid strategic and operational knowledge base for the officers who will someday command sailors in war.
Of course, this can’t take the place of exercises at sea. For training on that type of scale to be effective, it needs to be realistic, it needs to happen on a regular basis for repetition to turn into retention, and there are some things that we do, especially enlisted sailors, which just can’t be simulated. They have to be experienced personally, manipulated mentally and physically, and passed down to the next generation of sailors by shipmates who have done it before. This wisdom simply will never come from a computer.
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