2018 Connections Wargaming Award

"It is with great pleasure that I introduce our next speaker, Matt Caffrey, to talk about the history, purpose, techniques and importance of wargaming . As most of you are aware, this conference was created by Matt in 1993 at the direction of Col John Warden, Commandant of ACSC. It started life as an official USAF Conference designed to connect, hence the name, small commercial game companies and academics with larger simulation companies and the USAF. One of its primary goals was to develop serious wargames and simulations for the Air Force by adapting commercial products. Several years and successes later the USAF spun the conference out and offered Matt the opportunity to run it on his own time, which he has done to such a great effect that there is now a family of Connections Wargaming Conferences around the world. For for the last twenty-six years Matt Caffrey has been instrumental in providing a worldwide forum for sustaining and advancing the art and science of professional wargaming for national security purposes. Without Matt's sustained efforts there would be no Connections Wargaming Conference, and for this reason I am delighted to present him with the 2018 Connections Wargaming Achievement Award.

Matt, would you please step forward!"

-- Timothy Wilkie