By Hugh C. Laughlin/TRADOC News Service
WASHINGTON (TRADOC News Service, Dec. 22, 2004) – The third in a series of Unified Quest events took place last month in Washington, this time focusing on the national-security objectives for both the Blue and Red forces that play out the scenario of the UQ wargame experiment in a fictional country called Redland.
Nearly 200 participants converged on the Booz Allen Hamilton facility in McLean, Va. for four days to discuss, review and set objectives for the scenario. There were two separate sessions for this seminar, one for the Blue force and the other for the Red force.
Redland has a population of roughly 82 million, with 17 million living in the capital district. It has a global reach, being one of the major oil producers in the world. For comparison, the country is about the size of Alaska and has nearly as diversified a landscape – ranging from deserts to mountains and all the weather that comes along with these ecosystems. There is a modern infrastructure for the population, providing subways to highways, and it is a high-tech connected culture. And, under the control of an aggressive theocratic government, it has a modern armed force, with air, ground and maritime forces. To top off the scenario, Redland is a nuclear-capable country and has the potential to use its weapons of mass destruction throughout the region, threatening natural resources and possibly plunging many nations into a military conflict.
This is the scene-setter as the national-security seminar participants gathered to dive into their force’s national-security objectives and goals. To help this process along, a study of the culture which makes up the country of Redland was presented. On more than one occasion, the point was made to “get the culture right.”
Cultural anthropological specialists provided key background information, exploring the varied culture and ancient history. Redland has a 2,500-year-old history. Dozens of other countries have invaded Redland, and they have come and gone. There is a tremendous youth population, and by the year 2015 two-thirds will be between 30 and 34 years old.
For the scenario of UQ, the Army Title 10 wargame – cosponsored with U.S. Joint Forces Command – the country is fictional, but the environment draws on some very real ethnic and cultural genres prevalent in specific regions of the world.
The overall UQ wargame objectives are to explore the application of future Joint, interagency and multinational concepts. More specifically, wargame planners are asking, “How well do the projected 2015 concepts and capabilities enable the combined and Joint force to defeat adaptive, networked adversaries who have catastrophic weapons and a strategy of protracted, asymmetric operations employing all forms of traditional and irregular warfare?”
To pursue these concepts, the Blue force political-military planners reviewed the Redland situation, presenting a country which has become increasingly isolated internationally following a series of national economic problems and the re-emergence of an extreme theocratic leadership. Outlining the diplomatic, information, military and economic timeline, pol-mil planners presented a desired endstate for Redland.
This set the stage for the Blue force combatant commander who presented a mission analysis. The perception of Redland’s goals included Redland becoming a regional dominant power and major world power by 2020; and the dominant international voice and support for Islam worldwide, eliminating Western non-Islamic influences in the region.
The Blue national-security seminar went into great detail about the likely courses of actions which Redland could take. This included the most dangerous and aggressive acts, which could include creating environmental catastrophes, conducting cross-border unconventional offensive attacks or the possible use of its weapons of mass destruction against U.S.-coalition forces’ homelands.
This is a tall order for a combatant commander to tackle. Following the national-security seminar, he can go forward and start planning his operational strategy, reviewing risk assessments and forces available to him.
The following two days after the Blue force seminar, the Red force participants came together to set their national-security objectives and goals. A similar approach was conducted presenting the scenario and the cultural background of the country to the participants, followed by a review of the country’s strategic objectives.
The Red force commanders quickly went to work on refining their national objectives and strategies for preserving the regime and becoming the major world power it sees itself as. The assumption for Red force commanders is that Blue will ultimately invade to seize their country’s rich natural resources and depose of the current regime. Redland also is assuming that if military operations happen, they will happen within its own borders.
All this poses a hairy predicament for both sides. On one hand, you have a sovereign nation trying to make its place in the world. On the other hand, that country making its presence felt is causing great concern for other countries in the region and in the world.
These opposing forces are going to collide over the coming months and at the wargame experiment this next May at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa. Over the next 18 months, Training and Doctrine Command’s Futures Center continues its study of future combat through the full two-year cycle.