# What was the name of actual conducted Iran wargame that embarrassed US staff? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 19, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263 "2012-10-19T19:41:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/1 "2012-10-19T19:41:46Z")
I read it on Wikipedia some time ago, it was a wargame staged fairly recently where a US commander took Red (Iran) and embarrassed Blue (US and allies) so badly they started over and prevented Red from doing the same tactics so Blue could win. What was the name of it? ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/2 "2012-10-19T19:57:49Z")
I bet you’re thinking of this: > **[Millennium Challenge 2002](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002)** > > Millennium Challenge 2002 (MC02) was a major war game exercise conducted by the United States Armed Forces in mid-2002. The exercise, which ran from 24 July to 15 August and cost US$250 million (equivalent to about $407M in 2022), involved both live exercises and computer simulations. MC02 was meant to be a test of future military "transformation"—a transition toward new technologies that enable network-centric warfare and provide more effective command and control of current and future weaponry ... ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/3 "2012-10-19T19:58:27Z")
I have no idea, but these kinds of sgtories pop up nbow and then. Usually the player of the scrappy underdog (who happens to be tyrannical megalomaniacal dictatorship of EVIL!) tries some absurdly farcical tactic to avoid a curb stomp battle, and the judges will say, “Umm… no,” and reset things back a few turns. Since the purpose of wargames is to see how how in practice events can occur and to familiarize commanders with the issues in a specific military/political context, this makes a lot of sense. Wargames are, in the end, no more detailed or sensible than Warhammer 40K (often less), which means that there are a lot of oddities and exploits in the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/4 "2012-10-19T22:17:58Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > I bet you’re thinking of this: > > [Millennium Challenge 2002 - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002) That’s it, how can I forget a name like Paul K Van Riper. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/5 "2012-10-19T22:36:59Z")
Take it from someone who’s participated in war games: The good guys always lose. They stack the deck that way so that the brass can see how far the blue guys can get. Last time I was in a war game, on the last day of the exercise, they "spawned"out of nowhere something like twelve attack helicopter wings to fight a brigade. I ‘died’ within the hour. So when you hear that the U.S. lost a war game, don’t think anything of it. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2012, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-name-of-actual-conducted-iran-wargame-that-embarrassed-us-staff/638263/6 "2012-10-19T22:45:35Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > Take it from someone who’s participated in war games: The good guys always lose. They stack the deck that way so that the brass can see how far the blue guys can get. Last time I was in a war game, on the last day of the exercise, they "spawned"out of nowhere something like twelve attack helicopter wings to fight a brigade. I ‘died’ within the hour. > > So when you hear that the U.S. lost a war game, don’t think anything of it. Read the wiki cite, the opposite happened. With minimal rules the US lost, but the game was then reset with the rules changed to ensure a US victory.