Tag Archives: History
The Broken Staff-The (In)Effectiveness of Militia
The United States has always had a ‘militia legend’, one that has affected certain thinking for a while now. The romance of the citizen picking up his rifle and going off holds sway in er…. certain corners. So I figured that an examination is in order. The topic is a fascinating one. The Original Militia […]
Seventy Years of OPFOR
The Many OPFOR Nations The asymmetric OPFOR has been haunting the training grounds of the US Army for seventy years now, beginning shortly after World War II. Having an inherently dissimilar force is effective at training an army to face an opponent that looks, moves, and fights differently. OPFORs have run the gamut from overly […]
Back Blogging Battleships
So, it’s time for the Cold War battleships to sail again, simply because I’ve been looking up a lot of information on their hypothetical modifications. And what I saw was interesting enough to write about. First, the 1980s reactivation of the Iowas. Historically, their modifications were minor in comparison to some of the other proposals. […]
The 1965 Cutoff
So, in my innumerable Command editor forays and bits of research for the waves of scenarios I never expect to actually make in full, I’ve found one year where I view the most interesting, novel alternate history scenarios as no longer being possible. 1965. It’s a pretty sudden cutoff. I think the two big reasons […]
Looking back at the OPFORs
In the early 1990s, the US Army released a set of documents describing the “capabilities-based OPFOR” (Opposing Force), a stand-in enemy force that could be used in training exercises. The documents describe the organization and tactics of both a “Heavy” and “Light” OPFOR nation. As reference tools, they remain extremely valuable. While obviously dated given […]