Memorial Day Weekend Buffet: Summer Wargames, WWIII Blog Ideas and More

Well, here we are once again on Memorial Day weekend. Monday is a sacred American holiday where we remember the memories of military personnel who have lost their lives defending this great land. For our friends in other countries Monday is just the start of a new work week. 😊 Between now and Monday there will be countless barbecues, parades and ballgames going on across the country from Hawaii to Maine. Memorial Day also heralds the unofficial start of the summer season. Sadly, some of us must still work despite summer being here. I mean, not all of us can be public school teachers. I’ll be working, but it will be a cushioned period of heavy work. The summer months of 2024 will herald a return to the Jersey Shore for me. It will be the same formula for me between Memorial Day and Labor Day this year: Beach house, sand, ocean and a writing deadline to meet by the end of the summer. Been down this road a time or thrice since 2021. Not exactly being forced to spend the summer in a prisoner of war camp.

So, the short-term plan for the blog is to complete the War That Never Was book review and two WWIII addendums by June 1^st. After next weekend I’ll assess the amount of free time in my June schedule and prioritize the blog subjects that will be tackled through next month

As I do every summer, I will set aside time for wargaming. For June my wargaming activities are going to be focused on the Western Pacific, namely the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. After spending the last 3-4 months centered on the Westpac I was looking forward to a break from it. Unfortunately, the region continues to heat up and I feel it will remain on my radar for a good part of the season. So, for June at least, the wargaming emphasis will be on building and playing Taiwan Strait and SCS scenarios with Command Modern Operations. These scenarios will be air and naval. I have zero interest in playing out a simulation for a Chinese land invasion of Taiwan. I am not an OSINT ‘expert’ and really have no desire to explore the topic for the moment. Air, naval and international relations are different matters altogether though. I’ll keep the readers briefed on what I’m working on and if there’s enough interest, I might even make a scenario available.

Finally, I think I will use this platform to gripe a bit over the summer months. There are a few topics which are really grinding my gears a lot these days. One is the transition from Ukraine and Gaza to the Western Pacific that many OSINT and social media military and geopolitical “experts” are making. In short, the move east hasnt been smooth. The formulas that many developed in the Ukraine War will not be of much help in Taiwan Strait, SCS or anywhere else in the Western Pacific region. We are seeing this start to play out. It’s becoming apparent thar the current crop of OSINT and social media ‘experts’ know zilch about what’s really happening in the WestPac right now. Nor does their aggregate knowledge extend far beyond the kind of weapons Taiwan will use if war comes. For example, an OSINT account on X has been bragging about the amount of damage Taiwanese ATACMS batteries will do to Chinese ships and infantry ashore. He says little beyond the gushing for ATACMS. No context, no broader view or deep analysis. Drives me insane. But hey, on social media these days everyone is an expert on every topic. 😊