In this episode, we discuss
-What drew Sebastian to the Marine Corps and the infantry in particular
-The persistent public view of the Marine Corps as an all-infantry force
-The future of the ‘Every Marine a Rifleman’ ethos
-The wearing away of front lines and rear areas in modern-day warfare
-What Sebastian’s Marine Corps boot camp experience was like
-Sebastian’s thoughts on changing bootcamp
-His experiences at the School of Infantry-East
-What it was like serving as a reserve enlisted infantryman
-The stigma against reserve Marines
-Some things Sebastian wishes active-duty Marines understood about reservists
-Sebastian’s pre-deployment training and preparations for Iraq
-His experience of breaking the news to his mother of his impending deployment to Iraq
-Sebastian’s deployment to Ramadi, Iraq
-Sebastian’s interactions with the Iraqis
-What he took away from the deployment
-How Sebastian’s operational experiences have influenced how he designs, develops, and facilitates wargames
-How good decision games pose dilemmas to participants
-Sebastian’s words of advice to young Marine reservists and those interested in the reserves
-How Sebastian got into wargaming
-How he learned how to design and facilitate wargames
-How Sebastian defines “wargame”
-The differences between analytical and educational wargames
-Sebastian’s thoughts on the educational utility of commercial wargames
-The design “autopsies” Sebastian runs in his wargame design courses
-Sebastian’s two “translation points” for wargames
-How the wargame design process enriches the designer
-Why Sebastian prefers digital wargames for personal use and analog games for professional purposes
-What matrix games and operational decision games are
-The differences and similarities between different kinds of decision games
-Where wargames fail most
-The most common barriers to getting people interested in wargaming
-How Sebastian wound up teaching wargame design at Georgetown University
-Some of the standout student games from the wargame design course
-Where the historical settings for those games came from
-What inspired Sebastian to create the Georgetown University Wargaming Society (GUWS)
-What GUWS has been up to lately
-GUWS’ collaborations with the Army War College, Naval War College, and other organizations
-The value proposition of playing wargames for Marines
-Sebastian’s thoughts on the most effective way to introduce Marines to wargaming
-His wargaming work with the Marine Corps’ Command and Staff College and US Naval Academy
-Sebastian’s work with the Wargaming Division at the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab
-Sebastian’s thoughts on SOI-W’s incorporation of chess into the new Infantry Marine Course
-Sebastian’s contribution to the Rand report, “Next Generation Wargaming for the Marine Corps”
-The addendum Sebastian would write to the report to reflect the realities of COVID-19
-Where Sebastian thinks the Marine Corps gets wargaming right
-Where the Marine Corps could improve with wargaming
-What Sebastian would do with wargames if he were Commandant of the Marine Corps for the day
Links
-Sebastian’s RAND profile page: https://www.rand.org/about/people/b/bae_sebastian_joon.html
-Georgetown University Wargaming Society: https://www.guwargaming.org/
-(RAND) Next-Generation Wargaming for the U.S. Marine Corps: https://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RR2227.html