Talk:Military simulation
This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Military simulation article. This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject. |
Article policies
|
Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL |
Military simulation was nominated as a good article, but it did not meet the good article criteria at the time (July 1, 2007). There are suggestions below for improving the article. If you can improve it, please do; it may then be renominated. |
A fact from Military simulation appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 31 March 2007. The text of the entry was as follows:
|
This article is rated C-class on Wikipedia's content assessment scale. It is of interest to the following WikiProjects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Cleanup message
editBot identified the article as needed cleanup and put the relevant maintenance tags. Please fix the identified problems. If you think the maintenance tags were put in error then just revert the bot's edits. If you have any questions please contact the bot owner.
Yours truly AlexNewArtBot 00:40, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
Material/Materiel
editI changed material back to materiel because I wanted the military meaning of the word, and linked it to the Wikipedia article on the same - hopefuly that should prevent further confusion ;-) EyeSereneTALK 21:38, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
Globalise tag
editTag removed - it was added without discussion on this page & the editor hasn't responded to my invitation to open said discussion. The article was written with a global perspective in mind (I'm not from the US!), but much of the available reference material is from the US - mostly I think because (1) this is where Simulation is most used, and (2) it is easier for authors to get relevant documents declassified. Of course, I'm open to any suggestions for improvement... EyeSereneTALK 18:14, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
Failed GA
editHi, I have failed this article's GA nomination on grounds of lack of citation and style of writing. At the moment the whole article reads like a brain-dump or textbook-dump on the subject rather than a well-structured encyclopedia article. That's not to say that there's not a lot of good content in the article, but its not ready for GA nomination. To explain in detail:
- Over-reliance on a single source - this is a biggie. I don't have a copy of the Allen text but the article gives the impression that its entire structure, not to mention entire paragraphs of un-cited anecdotes, are pulled directly from a text. The article needs to lose its reliance on this single source by finding its own structure and incorporating a much greater variety of sources - in particular there must be primary sources (military works on military simulation) rather than books written on the subject for mass-market civilian consumption.
- You state "Many professional analysts object to the term wargames" as an informal name for the entire genre, but then it seems to be used more formally in the spectrum diagram to refer to a specific subcategory of military simulation - I think the article text and smiluation spectrum diagram need to be brought into closer cohesion
- I would say that the lead paragraph is too short and fails to summarise the entire article as it should do.
- The whole article reads prescriptively rather than descriptively, which may be a reflection of the nature of the main source cited. ie many passages are similar in form to "Ideally military simulations should be as realistic as possible". This article as per wikipedia guidelines should not be a how-to guide for designing military simulations, but an outline of what military simulatations are, who uses them, why they are used, how they are used etc. I think to prevent this constant reference to what should be done in simulation theory, the article might be better layed out narratively, from the origin of military gaming through to modern theory and interpretation, removing the emphasis the current article has
- "Heuristic or stochastic?" - section titles should not be questions
- There is a lot of good content in the article but the entire thing needs restructuring in my opinion, the section headings are confusing, and there is no flow throughout the article. I would seriously consider restructuring as a historical narrative of origins -> development -> modern theory -> difficulties and criticisms of modern theory
Many thanks - PocklingtonDan (talk) 15:40, 1 July 2007 (UTC)
Stuff and sense
editI added this:
- "(This was true in the planning of OPERATION AI.)"
this
- "which some later American models discarded.[1]"
this
- " In addition, it allowed umpires to weight the outcome, consciously or otherwise.[2]"
this
- "It also resembles simulations prepared and broadcast by ABC-TV's "Nightline".</ref>"
this
- "A situation common in sophisticated civilian games.</ref>
this
- "the modeller's assumptions ("rules") must adequately reflect reality, or the results will be nonsense accurate to five decimal places."
this
- ” Given the historical outcome, it's evident the dice were not so improbable, after all.</ref>”
this
- ”.Not unlike what Nicholas Palmer in Gamer's Guide to Board Wargaming called adding a fashionable fantasy touch of a "Sprouts wings" spell.</ref>”
this
- ”(and he almost always does), “
this
- ”intelligence” & “ (leadership) “ to “training, morale, and personalities come into play”
- ^ Dupuy, Numbers, Predictions, and War, p.140-1.
- ^ In egregious cases, such as OPERATION AI, umpires routinely provided "friendly" forces with contact data, and called off the exercises before attrition took its toll, while for OPERATION MI]], the loss of Nagumo's carriers was ruled out after it had been achieved.
Hope it's some help. I've seen "Nightline"'s simcast, but I've no idea when it ran; it was quite a few years ago...
Some thoughts on restructuring
editI agree with the GA failure. One major critique with the article is that within the NATO "military simulation" community a lot of current source materials refer to what is now commonly known as the "LVC" categories of "military simulation". "LVC" stands for Live, Virtual, and Constructive categories of simulation. "Live Simulations" generally refer to simulated scenarios with live people using real equipment (aka military exercises), but which may also include quantitative instrumented range-based data insertion or collection. "Virtual Simulations" generally refer to simulated scenarios with live people operating simulated equipment (Flight Simulators, Navy Bridge Simulators, Army Vehicle Simulators for example), in both networked and non-networked configurations. "Constructive Simulations" refer to simulated scenarios with simulated people conducting simulated behaviours. This article seems predominantly concerned with one particular sub-category of military simulation, namely "Strategic Constructive Simulations", and therefore it gives me an unbalanced feel.
That subcategory however is quite often still referred to as "wargaming", especially when it refers to the sub-sub category of constuctive simulations that rely on stochastic attrition models. So, the objection to the "wargaming" label cited within the article may not even be due to some sort of professional critique or recent political correctness ("war is not a game"), but rather the more recent and continuing situation that there are few actively used military simulations in this narrow category. The "military simulation" field has drastically changed since the dawn of low-cost computers to include all of the above categories, along with several detailed sub-types. In my opinion, the article does not represent the current situation regarding "military simulation" very well, and would probably require a major refactoring to bring such a structure into it, in a meaningful way. Given the article's current length, I'm not confident or energetic enough to be bold and go at it, but there's my 300 words worth about the topic if someone wants to pursue that approach.
Agreed
editI fully agree with all the above comments ;) A major restructure/rewrite is on my to-do list, but if anyone wants to jump in... EyeSereneTALK 13:04, 26 August 2007 (UTC)
good RS for basic fact of Wargames
edithttp://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/21/what_do_militaries_actually_practice_during_war_games Weaponbb7 (talk) 15:57, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Simulation of thermonuclear bombing of American cities
editDuring the Cold War, the Strategic Air Command's 1st Combat Evaluation Group deployed radar bomb scoring units from Barksdale Air Force Base on board military railroad cars to score simulated thermonuclear bombing of cities in the continental United States.[1]
“ | When all of the B-52s black boxes accomplished the preset magic the designers intended, there were no targets anyplace on planet earth that could not be obliterated with unerring accuracy.... | ” |
Maier[2]
References
- ^ "In regards to the SAC radar bomb scoring squadron mounted on railroad cars" (PDF). Mobile Military Radar web site. 22 Feb 2007. pp. 12K. Retrieved 30 Aug 2010.
The trains were 21 cars long, 17 support and 4 radar cars. The radar cars were basically flat cars with the radar vans and equipment mounted on them. The other 17 consisted of a generator car, two box cars (one for radar equipment maintenance, and one for support maintenance). A dining car, two day-room cars, supply cars, admin car, and 4 Pullman sleepers.... The Commander had the very last room on the tail of the train.... The trains would go to some area in the U.S. which was selected for that period by a regular contracted locomotive which then just parked us there and left, usually pulled onto a siding.
- ^ Maier, Lothar Nick (©2002.). B*U*F*F : (big, ugly, fat, f*****) : a novel from the B-52 Vietnam bombing operations. Plano, Texas: Lambis Ltd. Press. Co-published by Trafford Publishing. pp. p.132. ISBN 978-1553950493.
{{cite book}}
:|pages=
has extra text (help); Check date values in:|date=
(help)
--Pawyilee (talk) 17:44, 30 August 2010 (UTC)
- Interesting, thank you :) Please be bold and add it to the article if you like. EyeSerenetalk 11:24, 31 August 2010 (UTC)
- I patched it in at the end of the article, but someone more capable than I should work it into the text above. Radar bomb-scoring of simulated nuclear bombardment evolved from actual ground directed bombing, and then back again in Operation Menu. See also Unmanned Combat Aerial Vehicles and Drone attacks in Pakistan, which amount to "Ender's Games" for adults. --Pawyilee (talk) 04:07, 1 September 2010 (UTC)
File:MAPEX during Ex SUMAN Warrior.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion
edit
An image used in this article, File:MAPEX during Ex SUMAN Warrior.jpg, has been nominated for speedy deletion for the following reason: Wikipedia files with no non-free use rationale as of 3 December 2011
Don't panic; you should have time to contest the deletion (although please review deletion guidelines before doing so). The best way to contest this form of deletion is by posting on the image talk page.
This notification is provided by a Bot --CommonsNotificationBot (talk) 09:41, 3 December 2011 (UTC) |
Ocean Venture 81
editCan I write an article for this exercise (if there is not one already). The transatlantic phase was censored by the press for perceived failing and the second phase directly preceded the Invasion of Grenada. We also have good pictures already to include! If we don't have it somewhere, can I put it together? --Tefalstar (talk) 19:35, 11 September 2016 (UTC)
External links modified
editHello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 3 external links on Military simulation. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20080615022959/http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/cfb_suffield/batus.html to http://www.army.forces.gc.ca/cfb_suffield/batus.html
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070414092647/http://www.jfcom.mil/about/experiments/mne4.htm to http://www.jfcom.mil/about/experiments/mne4.htm
- Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20070929103005/http://www.strategypage.com/prowg/default.asp?target=wargameshandbook%2F9-3-wpw.htm to http://www.strategypage.com/prowg/default.asp?target=wargameshandbook%2F9-3-wpw.htm
When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.
This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}}
(last update: 5 June 2024).
- If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
- If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 00:58, 12 June 2017 (UTC)