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Tuesday Feb 14, 2006
War is just like a video game
New Washington Post article shows how young soliders describe warfare in Iraq as being just like a video game (sorry you'll need a sign up for this)
"The insurgents were firing from the other side of the bridge. . . . We called in a helicopter for an airstrike... I couldn't believe I was seeing this. It was like 'Halo.' It didn't even seem real, but it was real."
Apparantly, in the view of Retired Marine Col. Gary W Anderson (former chief of staff of the Marine Corps Warfighting Lab) believes that young soliders have grown up with first-person shooters long before joining the military - they are, in his view, the new Spartans.
"Remember the days of the old Sparta, when everything they did was towards war?" says Anderson, now a defense consultant. "In many ways, the soldiers of this video game generation have replicated that, and that's something to think about."
Interviews with young marines also showed how soliders were "on more intimate terms with the culture of video games, reality TV shows and Internet porn than their own families."
So much for the complaints against violent video games, apparently they're alright if they train you to kill real people when the man says shoot. Those poor insurgents must have their tactics all wrong, don't bother getting hold of some new explosives, get a Playstation 3 instead.
Posted by Jim Valentine ( 6:26 PM ) Link to this post Comments[0]
