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Army Transformation wargame focuses on joint ops

by Staff Sgt. Marcia Triggs

WASHINGTON (Army News Service May 6, 2003) - The Army teamed up with U.S. Joint Forces Command for the first time to get players from each of the services into its annual Transformation wargame.

The wargame dubbed "Unified Quest 2003" took place April 27- May 2 at Carlisle Barracks, Pa.

"Before this wargame the definition of joint training was two or more services operating together to maximize on their strengths and evade areas that really needed work," said Bill Rittenhouse, director of wargaming for Training and Doctrine Command.

In an unprecedented operation, the capabilities of all the services and America's allies were integrated at the operational and tactical levels of war, said David Ozolek, assistant director of Experimentation at the Joint Forces Command.

The scenario for UQ03, was a major combat operation in Southwest Asia, a smaller contingency in the southwest Pacific area with the potential for other crises across the globe, including the homeland.

The year was 2015, the year that the Army will reach the goal of its Objective Force -- a lighter, more rapid deployable force. However the focus of the joint endeavor was not for any service to showcase its capabilities, or implement lessons that were learned during current war operations, Ozolek said.

"This scenario isn't about today, it's not about the war in Iraq," Ozolek said. "It's about the future and the challenges warfighters face during joint combat."

The theme for UQ03 was "Expanding the Power of Coherent Joint Operations." In the past, the services operated independently, but this year there was a concerted effort not to operate in that manner.

"During UQ03 the Navy and Air Force operated in a very joint, coherent manner by successfully integrating their strike assets in support of operations against a red adversary," said Navy Cmdr. Michael Waldhauser, from the Naval Warfare Development Command in R.I.

The way operational concepts are discussed, designed and developed will be changed after this game, Rittenhouse said. Common issues that affect command combatants will be "born joint," he said.

The conceptual ideas that you see in Unified Quest 03 will be seen again in Joint Forces Command wargame - Pinnacle Impact 03, Ozolek said. Representatives from all branches of the armed forces will participate in PI03.

"At the conclusion of past wargames each service found that they had interoperable problems: conflicts over role and mission, conflicts over how missions are to be conducted, equipment systems that don't work together," Ozolek said.

"One of the contributing factors for those problems was they all had their own interpretation of joint operations," he said. "We're fixing that problem with this game, and our understanding of joint operations will be embedded within each service's wargame."