In December 1992 I was working as the Research Associate for Wargaming at The Air Command and Staff College’s (ACSC) School for Advanced Air Power Studies (SAAS). Several months before Colonel John Warden had assumed the command as the Commandant of ACSC. Colonel Warden was something of a living legend. The Air University Press had just published “Hart of the Storm” a book that made clear the key role Col Warden had played in shaping US strategy in the recent Gulf War. His book “The Air Campaign” (written while a student at the National Defense University) was seen as pivotal in turning the Air Force from a near pure tactical focus to again thinking about airpower in campaign terms. I had, of course, attended his assumption of command and had attended a few talks he had given, but if me then I would have assured you he did not know I was alive.
Hence, “surprised” would not quite describe how I felt a few days before Christmas when I answered the phone and Colonel Warden was on the other end of the line. He was not happy about the state of wargaming in the Air Force. They had wargamed his plan for Iraq and their software did not even include many of his target sets let alone model the system effects hitting them would had. In remolding the ACSC curriculum toward a more operational focus he was distressed to see that the wargames that ACSC had been using also did not account for system effects. He had also been told much of the time spent on these wargames was spent learning the wargame interfaces, not about war. He asked me if there was a wargame anywhere that was both comprehensive and easy to excite. I replied that I knew of no one wargame, but that some were easy to use, others relatively comprehensive, others focused on more strategic level. Colonel Warden asked was there a way to get one wargame with the best features of various wargames. I replied we could put on a conference or something, so the folks who create wargames could learn the best attributes from each other. He said something like ‘OK, go ahead’ then went back to asking questions. When he finally hung up we had talked for about three hours.
After I got over some of my shock I started to ask myself, had Colonel Warden actually directed me to put on a wargame conference? I was at a loss as to know to confirm if I had heard him correctly. A lowly research assistant (and Major in the Air Force Reserves to boot) could not go to his office and ask him. I could ask my boss to ask, but would that look like I wanted him to ask me. I’ve always had a bad habit, when I don’t know what to do I don’t. After the holidays I still had not figured out how to ask him. When while walking a hallway at ACSC I saw Col Warden coming the other way. His face lit up and he said, “Matt - how is the conference coming!”
A great deal was about to happen in very little time.
