In 1976, I completed working on the GAMO contract and spent about a year as Joe Braddock’s C3 expert in the BDM “tank”. [The BDM tank had all the protection Hillary’s e-mails should have had.]
I didn’t know what a C3 expert was but I learned a lot about Soviet/Warsaw Pact command and control. Bill Bell (a bagpipe player) was also in the tank along with Bernie Dunn [the D of BDM]. BDM had an exercise support contract in California. Dan McDonald [the M of BDM] was assigned there but I met him once at the coffee pot in the tank.
The Soviets were described as “applying science to command and control.” I came to realize that the Soviets were “taking the system approach to command and control.” This looks good from the macroeconomic perspective expected of The Economist. A lot of academics seem to fall for the seduction of “the optimal approach” frequently associated with socialism/communism.
American Exceptionalism was supposed to include our command and control system can cope with the situation as it evolves. All we have to do it is get the Soviets out of their pre-planned operations. Coping with the situation “as it evolves” is limited to the Army command and control paradigm. The Marines have to report to the Navy. The Navy reports to no one after the ship leaves the port. The Air Force is very control oriented. They are the most like the Soviets.
