Joint Campaign Analysis Book 1 - Student Text

Abstract

This course was originally developed in 1980 while I was in the Chair of Applied Systems Analysis at the Naval Postgraduate School. It was based on campaign analyses typical among Navy Pentagon planners and CINC staffs. As one project, students were required to report on and evaluate individual classified studies in the library for each other. As these studies faded in relevance there were few replacements, because in the early 1980s the Navy closed down its campaign analysis machinery for a decade. But decision-makers hungered for some sort of appraisals. Strategic war gaming was substituted and is still a prominent, overworked tool for campaign and force level planning. The lost art of campaign analysis was revived in the 1990s, but often over- emphasizes high fidelity or comprehensive simulation.