226: The New Basic Training

[Kandiell]

i am personally part of the canadian army, armored core. and during the two last weeks of basic, where we go out in the field and simulate combat, ive realised how much games HAVE and HAVE NOT prepared me for the real thing (sort of, it was still only an exercice) what games HAVE prepared me for, was an innate sense of cover, as to where when rounds (blanks) started popping, id immediately, almost as a reflex, double tap then charge to the nearest cover, all the while sticking with my team (i play a lot of team-based FPS, like BF2) games also gave me an innate familiarity with weapons, when i was first issed my C7A2 (canadas main battle rifle) i was already holding it up properly, finger besides the trigger, not on it, cannon low, holding the weapon against my body, like ive seen countless times in games: crawling or being prone with a weapon was intuitive for me, walking while aiming, landing your feet heel first so to not trip on something you wouldnt of seen, all things ive seen in movies and games, all things i immitated and that gave me an edge over non-gamers in my plotoon

on the other hand, some things i THOUGHT i would be prepared for and that i was wrong: injuries. during an exercice, i was medic with my fireteam partner. we were simulatingg a civilian hit by a landmine. we were walking down the road, in formation, when we heard a small explosion and a womans yell of pain. we quickly approached the scene and my sargent ordered us to form a perimeter and medics to stand by. when the area was secured, me and my buddy moved up to the civilian and i froze. on her leg a bone was jutting out, her whole leg was tainted with blood and some more was dripping on the ground besides her. i stared at it for a few seconds, until my sargent yelled at me to get down, i realised i stayed standing up up. when i think about it afterwards, i knew it was only a prop, but a good-looking one. i KNEW this was only a simulation, yet i froze, games may show blood and heads exploding and people jerking around in pain, but i can say that nothing prepares you to see the real stuff (even though it was all fake) one other thing games didnt prepare me for: the adrenaline rush and managing it. in a game, when a firefight breaks off, you keep your cool and methodicly take shots at the enemy. during field, damn, it was only blanks and i still would feel my blood pulsing in my head, adrenaline rush 100%, trying to listen to the orders being yelled left and right, trying to get a fix on the enemy, trying to know where team mates, or even more important, where my fireteam partner was, trying to figure out what to do next, yelling for covering fire cuz your medic duty, etc etc. it was all very straining and i was unprepared.



so the point of this whole huge text is to say that although games do prepare you for SOME things, i believe they can never make a real soldier out of an ordinary man. they are not an excuse for training, they are most certainly not replacement for real knowledge.

this is all, of course, my humble opinion.

P.S. go canadian forces!

 

[SilentHunter7]

No regenerating health, respawns, chainsaws, etc. Idiots are going to get themselves killed.

You guys DO realize that the Army still has a lengthy training program for recruits, right? This isn't WWII Russia, where we hand a rifle and some ammo to the poor sobs just getting off the train, and tell them to kill. When the U.S. sends men into battle, they're going to be damn ready for it.

All this article is saying is that people today know more about warfare than 60 years ago, and some recruits actually know what what you mean by 'M4A2 Carbine with a reflex sight, and foregrip', or what an AH-6 Apache gunship is.

 

[wooty]

I do remember a mate of mine thinking that after he played CoD4, that he actually did it, or at least acted like he was Soap and did all that weird shit. Had to give him a good clout around the head for that one

 

[mattaui]

How about I just end this thread right here....
I can not begin to tell you how many young privates get hurt or worse because they were what we called too "high speed". You are not, no matter how hard you wish it, being "trained".

Everyone should make sure to read your full reply earlier in the thread and understand it, and thank you so very much for your service.

If the author's intent is to simply say that people know what a tank looks like or that soldiers take and hold positions, that's one thing, but to imply that somehow this gives you any training as to actually being a soldier is pretty unbelievable.

Forget fighting a war, I have to wonder how many 'veteran' FPS players could even load, unload and fire a pistol or a rifle, unless they're already hunters or gun enthusiasts of some sort. Then how many could actually hit a stationary target, then a moving target, and how about shooting a guy who's shooting you? Here's a hint, it doesn't involve any of the buttons or the right or left trigger.

I think as Liquid mentioned, the real danger here isn't that video games are training kids to be soldiers, it's that they're making them think they're training to be soldiers, so that when the real training comes, they don't have realistic expectations.

 

[Robert0288]

so the point of this whole huge text is to say that although games do prepare you for SOME things, i believe they can never make a real soldier out of an ordinary man. they are not an excuse for training, they are most certainly not replacement for real knowledge.

this is all, of course, my humble opinion.

P.S. go canadian forces!

First, hello fellow CF member

For those of you that want a good read on this topic and the preconditioning of soldiers, take a look at a book called 'On Killing' by dave grossman. The science behind some of the studies are flawed, he is a nut job, but it does get you thinking. He argues that the reason why so many people fired into the air is that people have an inherent aversion to killing others, and that video games help break down that wall and atleast make the first shot easier.

 

[chiefohara]

Im only a reservist, but i wouldn't equate anything from COD or any other FPS as being useful for me. If anything, i find it funny how my computer game avatar can carry ludicrous amounts of ammo, the supernatural reloading speed, and how my ammo count is always there on the screen for convenience sake. Not to mention the superman level of fitness the avatar has from tireless running and jumping from one cover or the other, or the fact that i can do ankle breaking jumps from 2 storey buildings and sprint on happy as larry. I mean sprinting half a level, and then bringing your rifle up to your shoulder and having steady and perfect aim is a joke

Try lugging a rifle around for 48 hours on tactics and by christ any delusions of soldiering being easy like COD soon goes. Not to mention everything happening at once when you do get hit up (and thats only training, i've never been and hope to never be in combat)

I enjoy games, but i couldn't see how they could be used beyond a possible recruiting tool.