Board gaming is a good way to test alternative strategies and tactics. It allows for the vital "what if?" questions. However, they have huge limitations when it comes to training individual troops and their leaders.

Perhaps the biggest limitation is the absense of real pressure. That's where war games like Red Flag shine - each crew is under a lot of pressure to complete its mission without getting killed (virtually or literally). Fatal accidents at Red Flag aren't uncommon.

In other areas, the National Test Facility (NTF), the hub of the National Test Bed has been operational for over 10 years at Schriever AFB (formery Falcon AFB), CO. The NTB hosts computer simulations of missile defense architectures and is used a lot for wargaming NMD scenarios.

The Army has the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, CA. Ten times a year, from 4,000 to 5,500 soldiers travel to Fort Irwin to engage in massive and highly realistic exercises lasting up to 28 days. No board game could come close to matching the NTC.

At the lower levels, the Army has also deployed computerized crew simulators for the M-1 tank that function like flight simulators. These simulators are networked to function at the small unit level and even to fight against others around the country. The simulator technology is being expanded to more areas over time.

Other types of exercises have been going on for a long time. For example, when I was stationed in Germany (78-80), the annual REFORGER (Return of Forces to Germany) practiced the rapid deployment of troops from the US to NATO countries to counter an invasion. There were many other exercises throughout the year around the world to test the paper plans. In the end, there's no substitute for practicing the mission in real-time with real weapons under real pressure.