What Ever Happened to Professionalism?

If military operations research is to move beyond being mainly a hobby, to attain a state of true professionalism, a number of serious questions must be asked and the issues they raise must be resolved: To what extent can the outcomes of military models, simulations, and games (MSG's) be used to describe the real world of military operations and systems? How well are such models being used to inform and improve decisionmaking? How and by what procedures might these devices be made more effective, persuasive, and useful? What is the state of professionalism in this area? This article does not pretend to answer these questions, but does attempt to formulate them well enough so that answers are easier to find.