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War is Fun as Hell

By Sheldon Rampton, AlterNet. Posted August 2, 2005.


With enlistment plummeting, the U.S. military has resorted to flashy marketing and controversial information gathering to pad its numbers.

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Years of writing about public relations and propaganda has probably made me a bit jaded, but I was amazed nevertheless when I visited America's Army, an online video game website sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). In its quest to find recruits, the military has literally turned war into entertainment.

"America's Army" offers a range of games that kids can download or play online. Although the games are violent, with plenty of opportunities to shoot and blow things up, they avoid graphic images of death or other ugliness of war, offering instead a sanitized, Tom Clancy version of fantasy combat. Overmatch, for example, promises "a contest in which one opponent is distinctly superior... with specialized skills and superior technology ... OVERMATCH: few soldiers, certain victory" (more or less the same overconfident message that helped lead us into Iraq).

Ubisoft, the company contracted to develop the DoD's games, also sponsors the "Frag Dolls," a real-world group of attractive, young women gamers who go by names such as "Eekers," "Valkyrie" and "Jinx" and are paid to promote Ubisoft products. At a computer gaming conference earlier this year, the Frag Dolls were deployed as booth babes at the America's Army demo, where they played the game and posed for photos and video (now available on the America's Army website). On the Frag Dolls blog, Eekers described her turn at the "Combat Convoy Experience":

"You have this gigantic Hummer in a tent loaded with guns, a rotatable turret, and a huge screen in front of it. Jinx took the wheel and drove us around this virtual war zone while shooting people with a pistol, and I switched off from the SAW turret on the top of the vehicle to riding passenger with an M4."

Non-virtual realities

Unsurprisingly, the babes-and-bullets fantasy world celebrated in these games contrasts markedly with the experiences that real soldiers are facing in Iraq. A report by the Pentagon's own Mental Health Advisory Team -- completed in January but only released last week -- found that 54 percent of soldiers stationed in Iraq described morale in their individual units as "low or very low." In recent testimony to the House Armed Services Committee, U.S. Undersecretary for Defense David Chu, who is in charge of personnel recruitment for the military, admitted that "there is a reduced propensity to join the military among today's youth. Due to the realities of war, there is less encouragement today from parents, teachers, and other influencers to join the military."

Chu said parents and other "older advisers to young Americans" whose views on military service were shaped by the Vietnam War have become a chief obstacle to military recruiters, adding that he was also "lamenting the failure" of the media to report all of the "positive successes" of the military along with the news of bombings and growing insurgency.

In reality, as Editor and Publisher reported the day before Chu gave his testimony, the news media has actually been failing to report the horrors of war, as "few graphic images from Iraq make it to U.S. papers." And as Newsweek war correspondent Joe Cochrane observed just three days before Chu gave his testimony, one reason for the lack of positive news from Iraq is that reporters no longer dare venture out from Baghdad's barricaded Green Zone "unless they're embedded with U.S. soldiers. That wasn't the case early last year, when foreigners could walk the streets outside the Green Zone, shop in local markets, and, most important to journalists, talk to the Iraqi people. Those days are long gone."


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View:
So much for smaller government
Posted by: maxpayne on Aug 2, 2005 5:32 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It's amazing that the same people who argue against big government make it bigger. Looks like the BIG BROTHER Act of 2001 "conservatives" call "patriot act" sure proved helpful in allowing recruiters to kidnap students at will in addition to brainwashing them through fake advertising. And let's not forget what the bankruptcy bill will do. Don't be surprised if you find yourself in debt that was inevitable and not necessarily your fault but find a recruiter at the door ready to talk you into joining the army by lying to you that it will help you pay down your debt. The ENRONization of America continues.

P.S.: The DLC, who came to Columbus, OH featured Al From and Bruce Reed, in addition to the current crop of centrist Democratic potential nominees, parroting the GOP on the need to kidnap students and push them into the army with no real future.

They urged increasing incentives to add more troops at a time the Army is falling short of its recruiting goals. "Iraq isn't the last war we'll have to fight, and we need a bigger army," they said.


Risking anger from liberal Democrats on college campuses, they said all colleges should be open to Pentagon recruiters. Some have turned those recruiters away. "It is wrong to shield America's elites from the duties of freedom," From and Reed wrote.


More than helping recruitment, the move could help the party shed its image as anti-military, From said. He likened it to Bill Clinton's criticism of rap singer Sister Souljah for endorsing violence, a move that angered the Rev. Jesse Jackson but burnished Clinton's credentials as resolute. "Sister Souljah had nothing to do with security. But it showed Bill Clinton was tough enough to stand up to an interest in his party," From said.

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» RE: So much for smaller government Posted by: Lincoln fan
» RE: So much for smaller government Posted by: nightwatchdog
» RE: So much for smaller government Posted by: IndyElliott
Tell every kid you know that its safer to spend a few years in jail....
Posted by: Pepper on Aug 2, 2005 6:57 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
.....than to go to Iraq or Afganistan now that they are also blowing people up. I am doing that everyday. I tell every teen and young adult I know to exercise their civil disobedience. I have heard parents say they don't like it, but if drafted they would support their kid going until you tell them it includes the daughters.

Wow, then watch them freak out. What is this anyway, girls are more important then boys??? If your going to have population reduction then sending women is much more effective. This is obscene and insane. Whoever elected these people anyway???? I didn't! Its time to keep the 2nd amendment in mind. Now we know why they added it to the Constitution. Thank Goodness!

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Alla-Ka- Zam...You're a Hired Killer
Posted by: jeffrey7 on Aug 2, 2005 7:07 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Since the end of Vietnam the GOV has needed a slick marketing device to keep enlistments up and the bullets flying. Enter 'Rambo', 'Red Dawn','Peacekeeper', 'Delta Force'
and a host of others both film and now video games. The idea was and is get humans used to gore and bloodshed,give them lots of hours training on combat simulators and you get a homegrown killing machine. The problem is 'playing' combat
does'nt mean you yearn for 'actual' combat. The young DO
talk to their elders,and we tell them the truth. " All you are to Uncle Sam is an expendable unit,worth less than the jeep you drive,but expected to slaugher without thinking all that have
the label 'Enemy'. Even if it's your Family. Enlistments need to plummit. So far down that the GOV can't wage war. There
is no 'Congressionally Sanctioned' war underway so nomatter
what they say no-one has to register for the draft.Stop forcing your kids to become hired killers.You don't really want to be 'Gold Star' households and we don't need killers comming home to become time-bombs that blast up schoolyards.

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This is Bovine Scatology
Posted by: OldRedleg2 on Aug 2, 2005 9:22 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
People, don't blame all these troubles on the military. To their great credit, our Founding Fathers went to great pains to ensure that the military was under the control of the civilian authorities, not vice-versa, or independent. And it was done for precisely the reason that many feared the potential power of an uncontrolled military.

I remind you that many high ranking officers fought both openly and covertly to avoid this quagmire in Iraq, and suffered the consequences of doing so at the hands of the Civilians who are in charge. The first American "Regent" of Iraq was a retired General who was summarily fired because he dared to try to return real power to the Iraqis as quickly as possible. He was replaced by civilian (diplomat, no less) Paul Bremer, who instituted much of the absurd and obscene policies the Iraqis are forced to deal with today.

I have opposed this useless, unneeded, and illegal war since I learned of its possibility, and I am angry and dismayed at the reports of the pain and suffering we are inflicting on the people of Iraq. But if you think that the answer to ending it is to emasculate the military, you are truly living in a dreamworld. Believe it or not, it is a very ugly world out there, especiually when extreme nationalism takes charge. They won't care how peaceful and honorable we are if we get in their way. They will only care how much of a counter-threat we will pose. In the American scheme of things, the military is really nothing more that a tool to be used by the civilian powers that be and as an excuse to spend tax dollars on pie-in-the-sky weaponry. You need to go to our/your spineless political representatives and ask them why they are not willing to really stand up and end this thing, especially if they are Republicans or DINOs. More than likely, it will be because it doesn't suit the reps or the people that they supposedly represent either financially, economically, or politically.

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» RE: This is Bovine Scatology Posted by: jeffrey7
» RE: This is Bovine Scatology Posted by: Sparks56
Navy recruitment in San Diego
Posted by: deanmanix on Aug 2, 2005 9:28 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
This local story is about the deceiving blind ads the Navy is using in San Diego.

http://www.10news.com/investigations/4796991/detail.html

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» RE: Navy recruitment in San Diego Posted by: girl under glass
Parents and Adult Leaders
Posted by: Sandra on Aug 2, 2005 6:17 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
It will be up to parents and adult leaders in schools and communities to innoculate youth against recruitment propaganda. It takes time and some living for kids to be able to make informed decisions regarding their lives and deaths.

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In Spite
Posted by: Sparks56 on Aug 2, 2005 8:53 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
In spite of the war-glorification movies, in spite of the absurd efforts of recruiters in our high schools, in spite of student data-bases in the hands of recruiters, in spite of all the war game video propaganda, in spite of enlistment bonuses, the Army still can't fill its quotas.
I am heartened by the apparent ability of America's youth to see through it all.

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Frag Dolls???
Posted by: crankymediaguy on Aug 4, 2005 12:33 AM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Um, they call the girls "Frag Dolls?" Does anyone remember what "fragging" meant during the Vietnam war? It referred to shooting your commanding officer on purpose. Didn't ANYONE think that Frag Dolls was a bad name?? Jesus, these people have NO sense of history, do they? What's next, Holocaust Honeys?

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Reality isn't very Real
Posted by: IndyElliott on Aug 8, 2005 6:52 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
When they create a video game that features bullets popping out of the computer monitor and whizzing aroung the head of the player they may be closer to reality. When one of them strikes the player in, say, the shoulder - rendering that arm next to useless for the rest of his life, then they may be closer to reality. When the game makes the player truly afraid for his life, not just for the duration of the game but for a year or more, then they may be closer to reality. When they make it seem to a teenager that this may be a fun way to spend your next few years they are nowhere near reality!

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