COL(R) Matt Caffrey, USAF and AFRL, as well as the Godfather of the Connections conferences, joins us to talk about his historical opus “On Wargaming” and the research he did on the book.
Also joining us is Chris Weave, a BuNine member, and part of the professional wargaming team at AFRL.
There were a bunch of things referenced in this episode, most importantly, the PDF download of Matt’s book. There were also a variety of other professional articles from War on the Rocks that we discussed. And there’s also a couple of links to the Connections conferences
- PDF download of Matt’s On Wargaming book
- Jon Compton’s article
- Peter Perla’s (and friends!) rebuttal
- Phillip Pournelle’s non-rebuttal addendum
- Connections (US) website
For a consolidated list of the professional-focused podcasts, see this thread in our forums
You can always catch up with past episodes on the “podcast” tab of our site.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have your feedback either in the comment area below, or in our discussion forum. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube…
Hello! Regarding your question about the nationalities of those who downloaded “On Wargaming” PDF, I know at least one who did that from Italy: that’s me! And for academic reasons, of course in addition to the great interest for this very well researched and informative analysis of wargames and simulation games. I had the pleasure to extensively mention the book in my last essay about non-linear simulation games, “Il Gioco di Arianna” (“Ariadne’s Game”, Ed. Acies, translation in English in the works). “On wargaming” has been really fundamental for my research, not just about military simulations but also the use of pol-mil systems in the professional environment (one of the main topics of my work). So, I just wanted to thank the author for such a great contribution to the academic discussion and you for this great podcast.
Hmm… it seems that my previous comment didn’t get through (maybe because of some links in the comment area). Anyway…
I just wanted to thank you for this great podcast and the author of “On Wargaming” for such an important contribution to the academic discussion about wargames and simulation games. I had the pleasure to quite exensively mention “On Wargaming” for my last essay about non-linear simulation games, “Il Gioco di Arianna” (“Ariadne’s Game”, Ed. Acies, Italian language with English translation in the works). “On Wargaming” was especially useful for my research regarding wargames history and the diffusion of pol-mil simulations in a professional environment (one ot the main topics of my own book).
Thank you again, from Italy!