Radio Stockdale

Consistent communication, from the highest level, to all levels of the nearly 1-million-person Department of the Navy is rare. Why is that so unique, and why did our guest think it was so important. These communications were called Vectors. What is a Vector? How were they produced, and what was the process of producing them? With all of the other activity going on at the same time, how did these weekly notes compete with the constant drum beat of messaging encompassing social media, texts and 24-hour news? Did the Vectors accomplish their intended goal?

Dark Waters is an interactive scenario case study about a collision at sea between a US Navy Destroyer and a tanker. Sailors are trapped in spaces that are quickly flooding, and the protagonist must make the recommendation to close the hatch, and thereby save the ship. In so doing, those sailors would perish. It is used in Plebe Leadership, and Youngster Ethics classes. It is part of the Stockdale Interactive group of digital case studies, available at:

https://stockdaleinteractive.com/

Professor Doug Rau discusses the learning objectives of this case study, and presents to instructors and students alike the best way to use, teach, and learn from "playing" these simulations in the classroom, and as an individual.

Maritime Security is a complex case study, where a junior officer must decide among several different outcomes, none of which are optimal from a mission and moral standing. This case is not an outlier, but a representation of what young sailors face in the fleet daily. How does one balance the accomplishment of the mission, with the fact that lives are at stake, both innocents and those who have taken the oath to serve? This case study addresses the responsibilities as a leader, and the ethical implications of leadership.

Allyship is a series of case studies that follows the interactions of Midshipmen in various scenarios. After witnessing an event or comment by a third part friend and colleague, the protagonist is put into a situation where s\he must decide why and how to support a different friend who has been assailed by that inappropriate ugly event. This case study addresses your responsibilities as an Ally, when living in everyday situations that challenge friendships and respect.

Test Depth is a case study that follows the experiences of a young Junior Officer on his first role in the engineering department on a US Navy nuclear submarine. When he discovers a leak in the sea water system, he is challenged to do something about it. This case study addresses his responsibilities as a JO in working with a tight-knit team, where he may be the one who must speak truth to power.

Looming Storm is a case study that follows the early experiences of a young Junior Officer aboard ship. In a flashback, we see a poorly led ship, its wardroom and its crew. Slovenly sailors and messy quarters, rust and unaddressed leaks. Bad morale. The JO is challenged to do something about it, and he must consider who and how he deals with senior officers, and his sailors. This case study addresses your responsibilities as a JO when working in a poor command climate.

Tactical Interrogation is a case study where we consider balancing the rights and interests of three stake-holding groups: service members, their clients (i.e. inhabitants of the US), and non-clients (foreign enemy combatants and foreign non-combatants). Torture is grossly immoral when considered from any of these perspectives. Torturers tend to sustain moral and psychological injury. They are often found out and prosecuted, or at least, treated as pariahs by their fellow service or intelligence personnel.

This is a different kind of case study in that it is a primer on Artificial Intelligence, and how it can be understood by naval officers. We go through several situations where a young naval officer is challenged by a fact set, and she has to deal with what information she is being given, her understanding of the current situation, and bounce that against her underlying sense of ethics and the law. On top of that, she needs to assess what the AI is doing, and how it may bias the options that are available to the decision makers. Pretty cool.
Find the interactive case study at https://stockdaleinteractive.com/
Professor Jovana Davidovic is an Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, and a Senior Fellow here at the Stockdale Center. She discusses the learning objectives of this and other case studies, and presents to instructors and students alike the best way to use, teach, and learn from "playing" these simulations in the classroom, and as an individual.

This is a case study where a group of Midshipmen on a semester abroad run into trouble. You're the protagonist in a fictitious eastern European country. You're out with your buddies. A local guide has been showing you around, and he bids adieu, after calling for a taxi. So far so good. You have a group of students, different ethnicities, genders, generally different outlooks and experiences. And there's a decision to make. Do you go into a bar, without your guide. The first decision point here is the group dynamic. Not everyone in the party sees this the same way you do.