SHEPPARD AIR FORCE BASE, Texas-- The Air Force Logistics Officer School has incorporated a board game called Kingfish Agile Combat Employment into the course that allows students to critically think through challenges associated with the Indo-Pacific Command.
Kingfish ACE is designed to simulate the complex and challenging scenarios that military leaders may face as it requires players to use strategic thinking and decision-making skills to complete their missions successfully. Col. Troy Pierce created the game to be played with varying amounts of players, and to teach agile combat employment to Airmen and leaders staged in future scenarios.
“The board game definitely flexes the decision making skills of the students,” said Maj. Michael Mason, an AFLOS instructor. “There is an arbitrary time pressure that is applied in the game to force decisions to be made without being able to fully comprehend every detail.”
It also features different military units that players can use to complete their missions as they come up with a scheme of maneuver that replicates ACE. It also emphasizes the importance of cooperation and communication between players.
“The final part of the exercise allows a conversation about the attrition logistics will encounter in the next fight,” said Mason. “We as logistics leaders need to start preparing our Airmen, squadrons and ourselves for the concept that we are going to lose Airmen in the next fight. We will have to continue to fight and operate. The game forces these conversations with the students and lets them see the consequences.”
The inclusion of the game is part of the continuing effort at AFLOS to transform training for Air Force logistics, maintenance and munitions officers, said Mason.
“We have been working successfully for several years to move away from the ‘sage on the stage’ model, where instructors teach and lecture, and students listen and learn,” he said. “Our courses now are based on a student-centered model where instructors focus on teaching how to think, instead of what to think. Kingfish ACE is a great tool for doing that.”
For more information on how Kingfish ACE is being used to enhance training and education across the Air Force, check out the following links:
https://www.af.mil/News/Article-Display/Article/3276094/kingfish-ace-makes-entrance-into-rgmc-3/
https://www.airuniversity.af.edu/News/Display/Article/3126161/maxwell-afb-gunter-annex-airmen-take-on-the-challenge-of-kingfish-ace/