Red Storm Rising has shaped decades of classroom war games

Clancy leaned heavily on advisers, which can make Red Storm Rising feel partly co-authored. The novel has also been used as the basis for classroom simulations and war games for decades. In the examples described here, hundreds of students split into groups of five or six to play scenarios built from its Cold War conflict. The story provides a useful starting premise with several places where a scenario can branch. Those decision points let a class test how different choices might alter the war's course.