How much does it cost to make the military look cool to kids who aren’t even old enough to drink? At 12 million dollars, it’s a bargain. The U.S. Army is trying to get the attention of young gamers at it’s new recruitment facility in a Philadelphia shopping mall (see the Reuters article here). According to the article totals, the “U.S. Army Experience Center” (aka Dave & Buster’s Military Training Facility and Ice Cream Parlor) has 19 Xbox 360s and 60 PCs loaded with military games. They even have couches where you can sit and listen to rock music (hopefully not Creed) with other confused patrons who are wondering where the ice cream is. I believe they are planning to have a Shamwow booth up by summer 2009 (send that guy into enemy territory and we’ll have no need for the military), and I have also heard rumors that military service cures E.D.
Ahhh, the government never sleeps. God bless it’s tenacity. Or maybe Goddamn it.
Private Pyle! Did your mother not love you enough as a child? Get your candy ass into that comfy chair and play that video game FOR YOUR COUNTRY!!!
Now, before we go any further, I want to go on record of fully supporting ALL our boys and girls in the service, including friends and family of mine. They deserve all the respect and appreciation we can give them and I am proud as hell of every single one of them. I will also go on record that the government is a giant ad agency that is trying to sell it’s mediocre product to it’s citizens. (No really, you need us to, um, collect taxes from you and, ah, overpay for, well, everything and even spend money on things that don’t even exist. You need us to tell you what you can and cannot do, but it’s cool if we do what you can’t. What would you do without us?)
As a fan of both my rifle and my gun, I would like to play some of these games. However, while I condone the use of video games to train people, the flashy arena rock production might sway an otherwise sensible person into jumping on board because it’s the extreme or cool thing to do. I will support anyone joining the military on the terms that they know what they could be up against. To try and make it a game is a deceptive misdirection and twisting of reality to sell the army by waging a war of pixels. To clarify, I am for the games to be used as training for soldiers, not the recruitment of kids.
Propaganda does not equal reality.
Get out there and surf! This is part of the extreme U.S. Army Experience!
Video games have become exponentially more realistic, but they still cannot show the truth and horror of a combat situation. It cannot replicate the deafening continuous fire of gunshots, mortars and explosions. It cannot get close to the chaos of a fire fight. No, your scope will not glow red when you have someone in your sites to see whether it is a friend or enemy. No, reloading takes a while once your clips are empty. Oh yeah, that kid over there minding his own business may have a bomb strapped to him and is waiting for just the right moment to unleash it on you and your friend. Or he could just be a normal kid. I can’t even imagine what smells are associated with combat. Oh yeah, and you have about 3 seconds to make a decision that will either continue your life or end it while all this is happening.
My point here is that it is wrong to sell the only military branch that always counts on a certain percentage of employees not surviving (now dehumanized and called “collateral damage”) by fast pixels, shiny colors and loud music. Tell the kids how it is, and the ones that still join up are the heroes.
As always, long live the gamers! But seriously, say a prayer for the safety of our boys and girls in the military. We want them back and in good shape talking trash to us while gaming online!!!
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