CFP: Wargaming and the Military (Journal of Advanced Military Studies)

Found off H-net feed:

CFPs for the Journal of Advanced Military Studies: Wargaming and the Military

by Jason Gosnell

Call for Submissions for the Fall 2021 Journal of Advanced Military Studies (JAMS)

Marine Corps University Press publishes JAMS on topics of concern to the Marine Corps and the Department of Defense on international relations, political science, security studies, and political economics topics.

Our Fall 2021 issue will have a broadly construed theme:

Wargaming and the Military

This issue will address the past, present, and future state of wargaming and the military. The editors are interested in exploring the topic from a variety of perspectives, including the current status of wargaming and how the Services can prepare for tomorrow with innovative professional military education and wargaming. This exploration can include a historical analysis of wargaming and PME; an analysis of current military use of wargaming in an operational setting; and future wargaming concepts for PME and the battlefield. Article submissions are due by May 31.

The Journal of Advanced Military Studies is a peer-reviewed journal, and submissions should be 4,000–10,000 words, footnoted, and formatted according to Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition). Junior faculty and advanced graduate students are encouraged to submit. MCUP is also looking for book reviewers from international studies, political science, and contemporary history fields.

To receive a copy of the journal or to discuss an article idea or book review, please contact MCU_Press@usmcu.edu.

No jib at this jab

 Today I got my first shot of AstraZeneca. In B.C. this is being dispensed through pharmacies to anyone over 55; Pfizer and Moderna are being given through an age-based provincial system that I won’t get into for another 6-7 weeks at least. The third wave of COVID-19 and variant P.1 is bad here (not as bad as Ontario though), supplies of vaccines to Canada have been bumpy generally and people have been avoiding a vaccine that is 10,000 times less likely to harm them than the actual disease.

I had made up my mind yesterday to look into getting AZ; today I went to the pharmacy to pick up my wife’s prescription, and asked the pharmacist what the situation was. He said, book an appointment here, hey, we have an opening right now. Ten minutes later I had been jabbed.

Somewhat sore arm and I feel tired but that is my normal reaction to my annual flu shot, so I am not worried. And two weeks from now I will be a lot less worried about a lot of things!

[ETA: I spoke too soon… that night I had fever, chills, body aches and joint pain and was pretty lethargic the next day; arm was kind of stiff for the following 2-3 days. Much more than my usual reaction but it certainly provoked something!]

Once again, it is proven that innumeracy is 10,000 times stronger than actual statistics… next shot is in four months.

[ETA: I think I got this just in time, lucky break. Two days after my shot, they opened eligibility for AZ to people 40 and over, and now there is none left on Vancouver Island. Also, much of Canada’s AstraZeneca supply comes from India. With the recent huge upsurge of infections in India and collapse of their health care system, I am wondering how likely it will be that I will be able to get the second shot at that time… unless the Americans send some of the millions of doses their people say they will refuse to take.]

Shining Path in the classroom

Last month Aaron Danis, a professor at the Institute for World Politics (an independent graduate school that trains students for careers in national security and international affairs) used the Vassal version of Shining Path as a classroom activity in his course “Counterterrorism and the Democracies”.

He very kindly wrote up the exercise at the following link: https://www.iwp.edu/students-alumni/2021/04/01/iwp-students-play-in-peru-counterterrorism-wargame/

There was only enough time to get through the first three turns, but he would like to return to it later and spend a half or full day on it. The students were enthused and added knowledge from their own readings or documentaries they had seen on Sendero Luminoso. He tried to get his students to play it out on Vassal by themselves, but the interface and technology was a bit of a struggle so he adopted a simple solution of setting up the game for himself, then sharing the game screen on Zoom with the students so they could discuss and direct the moves of the pieces.

I’m glad this worked out well!

ADP in Genesee

Students in the thick of it. (photo: Brian Mayer)

Today I got notice via GMT of a two-day, 20-student play session of A Distant Plain organized by Brian Mayer, a Gaming and Library Technology Specialist with the School Library System of the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership. (I’m not exactly sure what this partnership is; they seem to be providers of special education, adult education and support/technical services to a large number of school districts in New York State.)

Great to see these students so engaged, and learning about a war that hopefully will not be waiting for them after graduation.

GMT very kindly provided the games at an educator’s discount. Class act, GMT!