CAMMS Event, Daley Barrracks, 1978
Although the men of the 2/14 ACR had their share of CPXs, map exercises, terrain " walk and talks " and sand table exercises, modern war gaming or the more correct, digital simulations with variable outcomes, was not introduced to the armored cavalry until in the Summer of 1977. A training team from the 75th Maneuver Area Command was passing through VII Army in Germany with a computer and terrain board combat simulation called CAMMS, Computer Assisted Map Maneuver System. For the Blackhorse, the first exposure to this new training device was at Downs Barracks, understandably it war gamed a potential Soviet attack through the Fulda Gap
CAMMS, aimed at exercising the battle staff and decision making capabilities at the battalion / squadron – brigade / regiment level, featured a gymnasium full of molded foam terrain board sections pieced together roughly resembling Germany. Over the hills and through the fields, controlled by the Lts and Platoon Sergeants, plastic pieces at the section and platoon level were maneuvered in battle with Soviet counterparts controlled by members of the S2 / R2 staff. At this level, it certainly was very similar to the cavalry Kriegspiel exercise of CPT Blank. On the handstands, in the M577s, commanders and staff worked to understand the battle as reported by the platoon leaders and issue the appropriate FRAGOs and Operations Orders.
Unit movements and the results of direct and indirect fire were unsorted by a bank of early model personal computers networked to a portable mainframe all of which were operated by the CAMMS support staff. The following year, CAMMS came to Daley Barracks as the simulation was fine tuned to support a squadron level tactical scenario.
Bob Stefanowicz
As I recall, the CAMMS training team passed through on a yearly cycle, and for many of us, it was our first exposure to PCs in use at anything other than the Math Lab level. The simulation was a command and staff event, I directly participated only one year, during the subsequent visits, I was on the secondary staff or a Troop XO and therefore, exempt from the sim. I think the exercise ran for three 12 hour days, each game phase to include movements and resolving the combat took between thirty to forty-five minutes.
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SSG Stafford and unknown Eaglehorse trooper during CAMMS event at Daley, 1979. The image shows the foam terrain boards and the ever present clip boards used to carry movement data back to the training staff for input into the computer. --Rick Badal |
The Soviet forces were controlled by personnel from the Eaglehorse S2 shop and they mimicked threat tactics and doctrine. The simulation fairly accurately depicted our basic nine map sheet group, somehow, the portable foam terrain board sections had been configured to match our maps and there was an agreed upon initial scenario of an attack with the squadron fighting a delaying action. I had only completed the Armor Officer's Basic Course a few months earlier and we had encountered nothing like this.
I am pretty sure the first year, we used land lines rather than FM to communicate to the TOC and one or two platoon leaders or platoon sergeants were responsible for the company / troop counters on the board. On the second visit of the team, I vaguely recall discussion of special low power FM frequencies being allocated to the simulation. Everything was assembled in the gym at Daley; there was a system of filling out slips of paper indicating who was moving where and with what intent, these were given to the CAMMS support staff who then ran the data into the computers and waited for the printers to spin out the results of the fight. In terms of portability, this was the day when a portable mainframe would just barely fit in a 35 foot "pup" semi trailer.
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SSG Badal, in threat uniform, and SSG Stafford consider a problem on the board. --Rick Badal |
The computer actually counted off each tank or PC as it was destroyed or disabled; there may have even been a % of combat effectiveness factor tallied after each phase. For the platoon leaders and key NCOs, the level of sophistication of the sim at the terrain board level left a lot to be desired in terms of what you actually learned. Tanks in a prepared battle position could be destroyed in a matter of minutes at long range, a recon section caught in the open at close range might escape unharmed. Cotton balls laid in a line represented obscuring smoke, you could use this on the maneuver board but the mainframe did not have an algorithm to factor the smoke effects on visibility in combat. I think combat results during "darkness" were first figured as daylight engagements then, the results were reduced by 45%. As said, it was primative but it was a start.
Having said this, the real benefit of the event was to generate the reports and information necessary to drive the planning and decision making process of the CPX. I imagine the guys in the S3 shop and the CP were kept rather busy.
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Another great view of the proceedings at the terrain boards. Anyone recognize the guy with the broom? --Rick Badal |
Looking back, the software and computer logic certainly had limitations but the experience was an interesting diversion and at the time, I do not believe that any of us imagined just how sophisticated and important simulations of this nature would become in future training and battle planning. CAMMS existed in refined forms well into the mid 1980s. At Fort Leavenworth, as computers with greater memory and faster processors became available, the Army devoted considerable effort to devise more realistic simulations and computer assisted events to assist training at all levels.
To learn more about CAMMS and the interesting history of the 75 Maneuver Training Command, follow these links:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/agency/army/75d.htm