Canadian Joint Warfare Centre provides wargaming training to The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery School
August 17, 2023 – Defence Stories
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Students and staff of RCAS at CFB Gagetown pose for a group photo along with instructors from CJWC at the conclusion of the wargame training that was conducted from 29th May to June 2nd 2023.
Members of the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre (CJWC) located at Shirley’s Bay, in Ottawa, Ontario provided valuable wargaming training to students at The Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery School (RCAS) located at Canadian Armed Forces Base Gagetown, New Brunswick. The training was conducted over five days from 29th May to 2nd June 2023.
The purpose of the training was to show students what Wargaming is and how it can be used to test students on what they learn and to enhance the various training they do.
After attending the Wargame Advisor course in Ottawa, Deputy Commandant of the RCAS, Major Dan Hoyt thought his students would benefit from his recent wargaming experience and arranged for members from the Canadian Joint Warfare Centre to visit the school.
Other Instructors from the other units within the Combat Training Centre located at Canadian Forces Base Gagetown were also in attendance.
Wargaming is used by most NATO countries as part of their training as it is inexpensive and easy to adapt to a variety of needs, ranging from tactical to strategic training, and for analysing operational plans.
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Students of RCAS at CFB Gagetown participate in wargaming training that was conducted by members of CJWC from 29th May to June 2nd 2023.
A wargame is a warfare model or simulation whose operation does not involve the activities of actual military forces, and whose sequence of events affects and is, in turn, affected by the decisions made by players representing opposing sides. It leverages a 'safe to fail' environment to enable an analysis of competitive human decision making. Commanders and staff can examine and learn alternative strategies and tactics at any desired level of detail, with outcomes that guide further examination.
The Wargame Section at CJWC designs, develops, and delivers Joint games for the Canadian Armed Forces at all levels and is a primary liaison conduit with North Atlantic Treaty Organization and other allies in the professional wargaming community.
The wargame demo games used for the artillery students consisted of Artillery Counterbattery and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance tactics, a Maritime and air defence game set in the Baltics, a depiction of the Russian counteroffensive in Ukraine and an amphibious and airborne invasion of Taiwan scenario, plus a game about geopolitical events in the Pacific.
Both students and instructors from the other schools felt the training was valuable and look forward to participating in other wargames in the future.
If your organization is interested in conducting a wargame in order to help solve or clarify a problem, then contact the CJWC through their Public Affairs Officer at scott.spurr@forces.gc.ca as they may be able to help.