This is a picture of an ARMY recruit center in Philadelphia.
After watching the "Collateral Murder" video in class, I felt that it was important to share with you guys something that I came across a few years ago. During one of my sociology classes, I learned about an Army recruit center in Philadelphia that was using video games to lure in young men and recruit them. The center was part of a two year trial that began in 2008 and was placed inside a shopping mall. This center was described as looking like a perfect cross between a hotel lobby and an arcade center. Reuters.com stated that the young men who entered this place were recruited and picked based on how well they performed on these military-based video games. One way they tested the youth was by simulating attacks on the "enemy" from an APACHE HELICOPTER. (fun fact: this game in particular was sponsored and created using Google maps). The army spent twelve million dollars on this center and reported recruiting at least 300 people in a very short span of time. Aside from the video games, the room was covered in screens that described our military bases and all the career options that were available. In addition, there is a separate room for perspective soldiers to fire an actual Humvee in simulated battleground scenarios, and another with several simulations of helicopter raids. This particular article on Reuters.com quoted an Iraq war veteran, Jesse Hamilton on his opinion of this center. Hamilton was in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 and is currently a part of "Iraq Veterans Against Wars." Jessie Hamilton stated that he felt that this center simply "glamorized" going to war and is very strongly against centers like this.
I felt that it was important to share this because we briefly touched in class on the influence that video games can have on our youth and their perception of war. This is evidence of one of the many ways that our military is convincing young men and women to join the force. One thing that really stood out to me was the simulation that has the participants join in on an attack from an APACHE HELICOPTER. This was the exact same helicopter that was used during the "Collateral Damage" video we watched in class. Again, I feel that this reinforces what we were speaking about in class, how the men and women who are shooting and causing death as collateral damage have no connection to the people that are on the ground. From the video we witnessed in class, the men seemed like they were simply playing a video game, like that of the recruiting center. In addition, I believe that centers like this one contribute to the development and further practice of A-symmetrical warfare. We are simply training these youth on how to partake in the advantage that we have with aerial weapons such as drones and Apache helicopters.
I hope some of you found this interesting!
Rebecca C. Gastelum
Rebecca,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this information! I had no idea that Army recruit centers have arcade like training facilities as you described above. And the fact that Google maps was a sponsor for the game is really ironic since we discussed how the difference in areal perspective desensitizes the aggressor.
I know that many violent video games are played by thousands of people worldwide and the effect of the said "harmless" games not only give the players a false sense of power (in the fact of killing from a distance) but they also have the ability to perpetuate violence outside of the world of the game. Throughout the years, I have read many articles regarding how young kids take a gun to their school or act violently as an adverse effect of playing so many violent games.
Having Army recruits play the simulations seems to me to be a way to already establish distance between the shooter above and the enemies below in order to start to remove any emotional remorse for killing(I agree with your notion of A-symmetrical warfare). The question I have for you is, what do you think should be done? I understand that Army recruits need to train for combat but what do you think could be done instead of playing simulations? Should recruits only practice hand-to-hand combat in a technological world where they themselves may then be put at a disadvantage? (I don't expect you to have an answer, this is just one of the problems that I am struggling to find a valid alternative for.)