Wargaming’s Utility in Military Planning w Mr. Sebastian Bae (S1.E13)

Season 1, Episode 13 of the Operational Arch. This is part one of our conversation with guest Mr. Sebastian Bae where he talks about Wargaming and its utility to military planning and training. Sebastian argues that Wargaming is useful as an educational tool, not necessarily as an outcome generator or simulator. Sebastian also talks about where and how he believes wargaming should be used in the military planning process and how scope and focus influence the creation of a board game.

Mr. Bae is an adjunct assistant professor at Georgetown University’s Center for Strategic Studies. He serves as the co-chair of the Military Operation Research Society (MORS) Wargaming Community of Practice. Formerly Sebastian served six years in the U.S. Marine Corps infantry and deployed to Iraq in 2009. He is the developer of the game Littoral Commander, and has been published in War on the Rocks, Strategy Bridge, Task and Purpose, The Diplomat, and Georgetown Security Studies Review. His professional focus is wargaming, emerging technologies, future warfighting concepts, and strategy and doctrine for the U.S. Army and Marine Corps.

Links to Mr. Bae’s Publications:

- Put Educational Wargaming in the Hands of the Warfighter. https://shorturl.at/dqsGH

- Promise Unfulfilled: A Brief History of Educational Wargaming in the Marine Corps. https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/JAMS_Fall2021_12_2_web.pdf

- Forging Wargamers. https://www.usmcu.edu/Portals/218/Forging%20Wargamers_web.pdf

MAJs Josh Bedingfield, Kesley Kurtz, and Dan Warner are the hosts for this episode. You can contact them at operationalarch@gmail.com with any questions you may have.

School of Advanced Military Studies: https://armyuniversity.edu/CGSC/SAMS/SAMS

Twitter: https://twitter.com/us_sams

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/us.sams/

Intro and Outro Music: "On and On" by Christian Bedingfield