I Brought the Vanguard Tactics Method to the United States Army 

 A few months ago, I was invited to be a guest lecturer for a week at the School of Advanced Military Studies (SAMS), a US Army graduate school where the future leaders of the United States Armed Forces, There, I used Warhammer 40,000 to teach and model better, faster decision-making in tactical situations.

I spent nine months developing my methodology and how to teach it – nine months of dedicated focus, planning, preparation, and deep thinking to create something that would have real value to the future leaders of one of the world’s foremost militaries. 

I call it the BOX framework using my “IDEA” methodology, one derived from all my experience and learnings from the Vanguard Tactics Academy and all the workshops I’ve run over the years. In short, the method helps you make good decisions under pressure, in situations where it would be easy to be overwhelmed. In wargames, decision paralysis leads to inaction, costs you valuable time, and could lose you the game. It’s equally applicable to military engagements, where quick decisions are critical as the situation unfolds in realtime, and the cost of inaction is great as lives are at stake. 

The IDEA methodology involves gathering Information under time constraints, making Decisions while identifying trade-offs and priorities, Executing the decision with composure and proper resource allocation, and Assessing impacts and pivoting if necessary. 

“I saw students take away new ways to think about problems under extreme time constraints; assess tradeoffs between actions and outcomes, and thus make decisions that were more rapid, yet still well-informed. Mr. Box talked about maintaining composure – something hard to do when you are stressed and facing the unfamiliar – and the students demonstrated greater ability to do so using his methods.” – Eric Price, Associate Professor, SAMS

I’ll admit I was stressed about being a guest lecturer in the months that led up to it. It was a huge opportunity, and I wanted to deliver something great. But being there, teaching and interacting with the officers of the School of Advanced Military Studies was everything I hoped it would be and more. It was the pinnacle of my career so far. It’s raised the bar for what’s possible going forward. 

“The response from students was overwhelmingly positive. They were excited to see how Box’s wargame planning framework integrates, extends, and enhances existing U.S. military planning frameworks in novel ways.” – Matt Yandura, Assistant Professor and course author, SAMS

While I’ve taken what I’ve learned from Vanguard Tactics curricula and applied it to my workshop for SAMS, I’ve learned a lot from my experience there and am excited to apply these new learnings back to my wargaming courses.

I want to thank the Command and General Staff College Foundation for sponsoring my programme and making this happen. It truly has been the highlight of my career so far. 

I think the seminar and workshop went over really well, so I hope SAMS will have me back next year. And who knows where it can go from there? The sky is the limit!