AAR 4

This past weekend USMAPS hosted a wargame conference, "The Race to Kanev, 1943." The event allowed its participants to play important roles in battle and to test their strategies. The race to Kanev was between WWII Soviets and Germans. The Germans were retreating after capturing much of Russia's territory. The Russians were trying to block the Germans from the reaching the Dnepr River and defend it. After participating in this event, I learned about war tactics and intelligence. I had the chance to play two important roles of war, an intelligence officer and a tactical officer. Both are equally important but the hands on tactical movements were a lot more fun and much less stressful and confusing. Many interesting people participated in this game. Most of them had military experience; men varied form Vietnam Veterans to Cadets from Virginia Military Institute (VMI), West Point, Naval Academy and the USMAPS cadet candidates. Each man had a story to tell and his on way of handling things. I was one of only two female participants and did not feel any bias towards me as one would think. Some wargamers took the game more serious than others, but overall I feel that everyone who played enjoyed themselves whether they won, lost or died.

Our Military history class spent the whole week of February 9th preparing to make briefs as a real intelligence officer would have done. I was assigned the G-2 position, in-charge of the of all enemy information and status reports for the entire Soviet Red Army. I had to make sure all the S-2's underneath of me had all their needed information. I was overwhelmed with work and responsibility but with minimal help, I succeeded with my mission and brief on Friday with minor errors and little missing information or details. I learned that it is extremely hard to have all the current information no matter how good you are at your job. The Red army decided on a COA (course of action) called, "Marturn". Half of the 40th Army and the 3 GTA (guard tank Army) attacked Kanev. The other half of the 40th Army went to Pereslav to hold the Germans and passed the Dnepr River between Pereslav and Guzensky. Our airborne units dropped on Potapsky marched to attack the German, Kanev defenses. The 36 GTR (guard tank regiment) that I was partly in-charge of managed to hold back German infantry from reaching Kanev and successfully crossed the Dnepr River with little opposition. The end result of all the fighting was victory! The Soviets won control over Kanev and the Dnepr River.

After all the fun, there were many valuable lessons learned from the experience. I was the Army's G-2, leader of all the S-2's. Leading a group while still learning what you were doing was extremely stressful. It taught me that having good time management is important in order to succeed as a leader or as active participant. I felt important and needed when people were looking to me for answers, I really felt that I was a major factor in a big event and it's execution. Teamwork may have been the most important element in this battle. Without the combined work of everyone involved, the actual event would not have been such a success. I worked with people that had different opinions and some that knew much more than I, and others that I knew more than. We all did our part as equals and victory was a success. Communications skills were the biggest concern. Speaking in front of complete strangers, who probably knew more than I did and possibly had a bias towards me because of age and gender taught me a lot about how to carry myself. They gave me their utmost respect and made me feel very comfortable and confident in what I was saying. My butterflies were gone and all the knowledge I gathered was readily available for any and all questions. I did learn that my overhead slides should only include main points and bullets with illustrations or maps and will make sure to do that next time.

The event was an experience I will never forget. I learned so much and met so many interesting people. I feel that it is important for anyone interested in the history of war and battle to participate. You can learn a lot from a book, but experiencing the actual battle and making command decisions gives you much more insight and respect for the Veterans that lived the real battle many years ago. The rules of the tactical game were sometimes confusing to me and rolling dice became frustrating when we did not get to perform the moves we wanted. One must have patience and imagination to enjoy events as a whole. From day one, all the hard work paid off when I saw the finished project, and felt the thrill of victory. I would do it all over again without any hesitation no that I know the rules. Next time I will ask for I different position, or possibly my own unit.