From competition to conflict, from warfighting to application of informational, economic, and diplomatic strategies, war college students exercise strategic-level decision-making in a yearlong educational program that builds to a wargame. With JLASS, the US Army War College turns its wargaming center into a living laboratory for senior military officers.
The Joint Land, Air, Sea, Space Strategic Program is an elective curriculum at the nation’s war college – Army, Air, Naval, National – as well as Chile’s and Sweden’s war college equivalents. After a yearlong ‘home station’ curriculum with special briefings and preparatory work, the JLASS wargame is underway for more than 150 students who will test themselves and learn from each other in this joint and multinational body of senior field grade officers.
Students converged on the USAWC Center for Strategic Leadership, May 1, for six days that will exercise knowledge, critical thinking, strategic resourcing, and joint and multinational collaboration applied to a set of challenging scenarios across the world of 2032. Students role-play leaders and planners of all US geographical commands, NORDIC Command, and NATO. The problem sets range from cyber and terror threats to escalatory actions by would-be antagonists.
JLASS recreates the processes and relationships of operational commands, Service Headquarters, the Joint Staff and even a notional president of the United States. POTUS role-player Dr. Jim Breckenridge is the USAWC Provost, or chief academic officer, 359 days of the year. During JLASS, he challenges the students’ efforts and evidence in giving him their best military advice.
Cutline: James Breckenridge, USAWC Provost and JLASS’s notional POTUS, take a briefing from his National Security Council in the JLASS inter-war college academic exercise.
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