Bios

Captain Robert C. Rubel, U.S. Navy, ret, Chairman of Wargaming 2004-2006, NWC

Dean Rubel, is currently Dean, Center for Naval Warfare Studies.

Captain Rubel received his commission from the NROTC Unit at the University of Illinois, where he graduated in 1971 with a bachelors degree in psychology. He earned his Naval Aviator wings in 1973 and reported to Attack Squadron 66 at Cecil Field, Florida after six months of A-7 Corsair II training. On this tour he participated in 6th Fleet operations aboard USS Independence (CV-62) during the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the Cyprus Crisis in 1974. In 1976 he became an instructor pilot in Attack Squadron 174.

In VA-174 he was initially a weapons instructor, training new

aviators in bombing, strafing and strike planning. Later he took over

duties as a training landing signal officer, teaching A-7 pilots to land

aboard an aircraft carrier.

Reporting to Commander, Carrier Air Wing SEVEN as the staff Landing

Signal Officer, he made two cruises aboard USS Dwight D. Eisenhower

(CVN-69). During the second cruise, the ship-air wing team was deployed to

the Indian Ocean for eight months in support of US policy in the 1980

Iranian Hostage Crisis.

Selected to attend the Spanish Naval War College in Madrid, Spain,

Capt Rubel attended the Defense Language Institute for seven months of

Spanish instruction and subsequently spent a glorious year in Spain studying

the Spanish way of war.

After A-7 refresher training, Captain Rubel reported to Attack

Squadron 86 as a department head. Deploying to the Mediterranean aboard USS

Nimitz (CVN-68), he participated in naval operations in conjunction with the

TWA Flight 847 crisis.

In 1985 Captain Rubel began a year of study at the US Naval War

College in Newport, Rhode Island. After graduation, he remained on the

faculty, teaching planning and decision making until June, 1988.

Selected for command. Captain Rubel underwent six months of F/A-18

training at NAS Cecil Field and reported as Executive Officer, Strike

Fighter Squadron 131. He assumed command in June, 1990. Again embarked in

USS Eisenhower, his squadron participated in the early deterrent operations

during Operation DESERT SHIELD. After return to CONUS he led the squadron

through a transition from the F/A-18A to the F/A-18C night strike Hornet.

He relinquished command in September 1991 and again reported to the Naval

War College faculty, where he served until June, 1996. During this period

he again taught planning and decision making, but also served as the

College's JPME officer. In addition to taking the College through its first

JPME accreditation, he served as the Navy representative on the Joint Staff

accreditation team for all the other schools in the PME system. He was also

named as the William F. Halsey Chair of Air Strike Warfare and later on the

Colin Powell Chair of Joint Warfare.

From June, 1996 to June, 1998 he served as Inspector General, US

Southern Command. In this capacity he inspected all the military

assistance groups in the AoR and conducted a range of investigations

including an assessment of the security of certain counter-narcotics radar

sites in the upper Amazon and the defenses of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Upon return to the Naval War College in 1998, Captain Rubel became

the Navy representative in a Joint Staff JPME 2010 study. The following

year he was made Deputy Dean of the Center for Naval Warfare Studies, where

he served until retirement in 2001.

Appointed a civilian faculty member within the Wargaming Department,

Professor Rubel initially led the Research and Analysis Division within

Wargaming. In 2003 he directed Unified Course, a co-sponsored game with

Joint Forces Command. In 2004 he became Chairman of Wargaming. As Chairman he fundamentally altered the department's structure, creating a

civilian/military faculty that focused on collaborative teamwork without

formal organizational structures. In 2006 he was appointed interim Dean of

the Center for Naval Warfare Studies. Within a month Admiral Roughead

directed the College to help the Navy Staff create a new maritime strategy,

and Professor Rubel directed eight month the effort that provided the logic

and concepts underpinning the current maritime strategy. Subsequently given

permanent appointment as Dean, Professor Rubel increased student advanced

research and developed new lines of inquiry including strategic cyberspace,

unmanned systems, naval logistics and command via challenged networks. He

has also published on a number of subjects related to naval operational

warfighting and strategy.

Captain Rubel's awards include Civilian Superior Service Medal, the

Joint Superior Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service

Commendation Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, the Spanish Cross of Naval

Merit and various unit and deployment awards.

Anative of Rockford, Illinois, he is married to the former Donna Meece of Monticello, Illinois, has two sons, Matthew and Daniel and four grandchildren.

PUBLICATIONS

A Dazzling Vision of Antiseptic Warfare. (Book review, NWC Review, Winter

1994)

Gettysburg and Midway: Historical Parallels in Operational Command. (NWC

Review, Winter 1995:96-110)

Security Assistance Engagement Plan Development (DISAM Journal, Fall 2000,:

61-67) http://www.disam.dsca.mil/Pubs/Indexes/v.23_1/rubel.pdf

War-Gaming Network-centric Warfare. (NWC Review, Spring 2001:61-74)

https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/f3eccde2-a54e-4fef-a6c8-8774da200a88/War

-Gaming-Network-centric-Warfare---Rubel,-Robert

The Epistemology of War Gaming. (NWC Review, Spring 2006:108-28)

https://www.usnwc.edu/getattachment/5fce9410-594b-47bf-af57-4cf5e406e634/Epi