Bonding Over War Games

At Camp Bundela, barely five kilometres from the Indian Army’s Babina firing ranges in Uttar Pradesh, Sergeant Donald Jeik of the US army is enjoying a game of pool with an unlikely partner, an Indian soldier who has just developed fancy for the cue.

The 29-year-old mortar man, assigned to 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, is one of the 300 American soldiers who have come from Hawaii to take part in Exercise Yudh Abhyas 2009, an annual Indo-US military drill from October 12-29.

More than 1,000 soldiers are taking part in the war games, aimed at promoting cooperation between the two militaries while sharing training, cultural exchanges, and building joint operating skills.

This year’s Yudh Abhyas features 17 Stryker vehicles— the largest deployment of these armoured combat vehicles outside of Iraq and Afghanistan.

On Monday, the two armies showed what they could achieve together as they went about the business of enforcing peace in a fictitious country (called Karera) torn apart by terrorism. Its neighbours were exporting its miseries.

The exercise involved T-90, combat vehicles, anti-tank missiles, US army’s mini UAVs and live firing of Javelin anti-tank guided missiles.

Lieutenant General A S Sekhon, the army’s director general of military operations said India had a lot to learn from the US experience — especially in the field of technology — in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Source: Rahul Singh, Hindustan Times; Email Author Babina (Jhansi), October 27, 2009

US War Games Test Afghan Battle Plans

WASHINGTON: The Pentagon's top military officer has conducted secret war games to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon and are being weighed by the Obama Administration as part of a broad-based review of the faltering Afghanistan war, senior military officials said.

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The exercise this month, led by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more soldiers to conduct a full-scale counter-insurgency effort aimed at building a stable government that can control most of Afghanistan. It also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers and marines as part of an approach dubbed ''counter-terrorism plus''.

Both options were drawn from a detailed analysis prepared by General Stanley McChrystal, the senior commander in Afghanistan, and were forwarded to the President, Barack Obama, by the Defence Secretary, Robert Gates.

The Pentagon war games did not formally endorse either course; rather, they tried to gauge how Taliban fighters, the Afghan and Pakistani governments and NATO allies might react to either scenario. Admiral Mullen has discussed its conclusions with senior White House officials involved in discussions over the new strategy.

One of the exercise's assumptions is that an increase of 10,000 to 15,000 troops would not give US commanders the forces they need to take back havens from the Taliban commanders in southern and western Afghanistan, where shadow insurgent governors collect taxes and run court systems based on Islamic law.

The Obama Administration initiated a review of its war strategy late last month after questions emerged about the legitimacy of the Afghan elections on August 20, and a troubling update on the war by General McChrystal.

What was intended to be two or three weeks of intensive White House meetings has stretched on for almost a month.

General McChrystal's analysis has drawn wide support inside the Pentagon. It suggests that 44,000 troops would be needed to drive Taliban forces from populated areas and to hold them until Afghan troops and government officials can take the place of US and NATO forces. The extra troops would allow US commanders to essentially triple the size of the US forces in the south of the country, where the Taliban originated and have their strongest support.

The increase of 10,000 to 15,000 soldiers would give General McChrystal one US advisory brigade of about 5000 to speed the development of Afghan forces and a large number of support forces.

US officials say Mr Obama might settle on a plan but delay announcing it until after a run-off in the Afghan elections, scheduled for November 7.

Source: GREG JAFFE AND KAREN DEYOUNG (October 27, 2009)

War Game Examines Energy as a Disruptive Technology

Energy as a weapon and an enabler could dominate future battlefields, according to a recent war game that focused on military energy requirements. Participants in the 2009 war game, which had the theme “Future Energy Requirement on the Battlefield,” examined energy produced, packaged and used in novel ways to enable persistence.

The Director of Defense Research and Engineering’s (DDRandE’s) Technical Intelligence Program is briefing the results of its 4th annual future disruptive technology war game to offices within the organization and other participants. This year’s game, which took place in June at the National Defense University, focused on the effects that a breakthrough energy technology could have on U.S. warfighting capability and science and technology investment. The exercise did not limit participants to any specific ideas such as traditional or alternative fuels or near- or long-term solutions, but rather sought to examine any possibility and its ramifications.

Technologies employed for energy generation, transformation and transport that would or could support high-energy weapons systems on the future conventional battlefield garnered the most attention, according to Capt. Robert Barton, USNR, commander of the DDR&E Joint Reserve Unit, the office responsible for the event.

War game personnel considered the impact of technologies and applications required to enable or disrupt future battlefield operations requiring vast amounts and various forms of energy. The goals of the event were to determine which commercially available technologies—prioritized, if possible—could be used or combined into applications to produce either a capability advantage, or conversely, a disruptive threat; technology or application areas in which potential adversaries would be likely to make investments that would deter or mitigate a U.S. technological advantage; the impact of identified potential threats from a Defense Department perspective and the effectiveness of current capabilities in mitigating the impacts; and the science and technology areas the department should invest in to counter or mitigate those threats.

Col. Dave Robie, USAFR, vice commander of the DDR&E Joint Reserve Unit, explains that the energy focus is important to the military, which currently operates in an unconstrained energy environment. Though the supply can be expensive, U.S. forces never have lacked the resources they need. As the Defense Department moves forward, energy may become more constrained, and leadership will have to make decisions about all types of energy sources, not just fossil fuels.

The final, approved results of the event are not available for public release. They are delivered to leadership and participants who include members of the Defense Department, industry, venture capitalists, academia and other government laboratories and agencies. Those who are briefed can use the information for additional studies. Overall success was judged by the effect that the game results and recommendations have in informing the science and technology planning process and spotlighting a need for future assessment.

The war game supercharges other analyses by completing a great deal of background work and research. Col. Robie explains that the military is preparing to conduct an energy study on the battlefield that will start out at a higher level because of what was accomplished in the war game. The outcome is of interest to several Defense Department organizations and the service branches.

One of the big challenges for the war game each year is determining what will be a disruptive technology. “That’s the trick,” Capt. Barton says, adding that quite often the answer is a convergence of several developing technologies that combine to become a game changer. War game personnel examine what would create a significant impact on U.S. forces if such technologies were available to them or their adversaries.

To help identify the most important technologies, a variety of subject matter experts on different topics gather to assist with the war game. Lt. Cmdr. Mike Richman, USNR, another member of the DDR&E Joint Reserve Unit and the war game co-chair, says that with enough brainpower, diversity and technical expertise, the event feeds itself and results in thought-provoking exercises that help answer what the technologies and capabilities can do in future conflicts.

Capt. Barton emphasizes two key takeaways from the annual war game. Because it is an intellectually unconstrained environment, it yields unique and valuable insight that, along with other factors, inform policy, budget and follow-on deep-dive study efforts. Also, it leverages the nation’s citizen-soldier brain trust coupled with intelligent personnel from other areas to solve difficult military problems. The citizen soldiers involved with the effort bring their civilian life knowledge and contacts to bear in the experiments.

Source: Rita Boland

Airsoft Wargames - An Alternative Sport

Have you ever thought that your sports hobbies like baseball, basketball, or football are too common? Why don't you try something new? If you're a type of person that seeks a pure adrenaline rush, mind blowing suspense action, strategy, and tactics, Airsoft is right for you!


Airsoft is a game where you use Guns, not the real ones, but the Airsoft Gun that is powered by compressed air, manual spring or bolt action, or electrically powered gearbox. They are replicas of the real fire arms like the M16 Armalite, AK47, and PSG 1 sniper, but even they are replicas, they feels like real! Especially those of full metal types where the body of the Gun is mostly made of metal. In the game, you play as a team in a particular battlefield, the goal of the game is to eliminate the opposing players by hitting them by your gun with plastic pellets (commonly called BB's) usually at .20 grams measuring 6mm in diameter, yes! It's plastic because metallic ones can cause severe injury when it hits a person. Airsoft players can organize meetings and game in specialized battlefields adapted to feature bunkers, walls, providing realistic battle scenarios. When in combat in the field, it often involves common military tactics, applying appropriate strategy with the aid of useful battle gears. Back in 1970's, Airsoft started in Japan, they started to manufacture non- lethal gun replicas that fires calibers of plastic or rubber BB's. It was at first all spring powered but improved into gas- powered ones.


How you play the game usually employs an "Honor System" where the players rely on each other's honesty admitting if self is hit. The indication of being hit is when a player truly feels the impact of the velocity from the BB that is fired by another opposing player, in some cases there are friendly fire, meaning your team mate accidentally hits you, but it is not counted or considered a "Hit" to make you out of the game. The thrill of Airsoft is supported by Military simulations or "Mil-sims." It is actually a mind blowing situation where it depicts the real military fights including reduced amount of ammunition or BB's to re-enact the real Gun's low capacity magazines ranging from only 20 rounds to a maximum of 100 rounds. One example is the M4 and M16 series which only have 30 rounds. There is also a mission here and it can last up to days unlike the ordinary skirmishes that the only goal is to eliminate all opposing players lasting for less than an hour. Missions are supplied by explosives, pyrotechnics, Communication devices like radios, and BB's.


Here are tips for you to get started:


First you have to decide which Type of Airsoft gun to use. These types are AEG's or Airsoft Electric Guns that are battery operated, Blowbacks - Gas powered, and Bolt action that are spring powered. Go to an Airsoft shop and you'll see lots of Airsoft guns to choose from and the store keeper is the right person to consult. Spring types needed to be cocked, it seems to be a hassle but this is very powerful, it is often seen in sniper rifles. Gas powered (Blowbacks) are also powerful but it is very costly for you need to buy Gases, and the durability of the Airsoft gun is at stake. For battery operated, I prefer this one better than the others I mentioned because of practicality reasons. First is because of cheap maintenance in which you will no need to buy Green gas or CO2 bottles to power those blowbacks (Gas powers). Second is that it has a fully automatic mode in which spring types cannot do. I recommend examples of Guns for you to search for are the M4 series, AK47 series, Sniper rifles Bar10 or L96, and Steyr Aug. I've recommended this the best Airsoft guns for all purpose situations based on my experience being a Pro Airsoft player. In the usual markets, it is common to have different brands of these Airsoft guns. These are Jing Gong {JG), Tokyo Marui, Desert eagle, D-boys, AGM, A&K, and Cyma. I recommend using JG's because of its affordability or cheapness, fire power, stability, and durability. A usual JG quality lasts for about 100+ battles before you can see a slight damage in its function or externals, unlike other brands that only last for 20+ battles and you can see lots of quality downfalls.


For ammunition you will use lots of .20g plastic BB's, for this weight is the standard weight used in competitions.


When you finally decided for which gun to buy, you need battle gear for protection. As being hit by an Airsoft gun without protection can hurt you badly. The primary protection you need is for your eyes, you'll need goggles. Second is a face mask to cover your face, a pair of gloves, a helmet, battle outfit like camouflage, Tactical vest, Knee pads, elbow pads, and finally a pair of combat boots.


Now that you're ready to rumble, you need to find a place where Airsoft battles are offered. In here you can join a team, don't forget to be friendly for here in Airsoft, camaraderie and, brotherhood and friendships are being made.


At your first battle it is common to feel nervousness, it's very normal and as you join more battles you will get used to it and finally enjoy it! I hope you find this article interesting and useful regarding the Airsoft hobby. Good luck and enjoy the thrill of the fight.

Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Melrick_Paul_Gogorza