226: The New Basic Training

[Kwip]

The New Basic Training

Thanks to movies and videogames, today's military recruits have more exposure to combat than those of any period in history. But when soldiers take unnecessary risks in the name of playing the hero, this exposure becomes a liability. Shawn Williams investigates how entertainment media's glorification of war may affect modern soldiers.

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[Distorted Stu]

All the way throught that article i couldnt help think of my friend Shaun. He has always been a huge gamer and a massive fan of FPS. Was always on Cod4 and one day he just randomly decided he wanted to go into the army. I asked him why and he said that he thinks he has gained some knowlage of war tataics and weapons from games and he would like to experience it first hand. Hes an addrenaline junky too. He also quoted FPS_Doug from PP. "Some times i think about joining the army but irl theres no Respawn points!"

I must say, after years of playing Milatary themed games, i do now know alot of names of weapons, ranks and vechicals :|

 

[n00bie51]

My 6 year-old cousin has seen various gory war movies and I think he's a bit more immune to being scared by it. I also think the recruits will be surprised when they realize they don't have regenerating health... so they should use the Halo players as cannon-fodder...

Along with the COD players who think they'll be mowing down hundreds of people in a minute. And the Gears of War players who'll rush in using their own ghetto chainsaw bayonets.

 

[Mr.Pandah]

Its all fun and games until somebody gets hurt, or at least, thats what my father used to tell me. And pretty much every other parent has said at some point.

When thrown into a real life combat situation, I don't think that any amount of simulated combat is going to let you get any real upper hand. When bullets start flying, everyone is susceptible to the same reactions of panic, anxiousness, restlessness, and survival. I find this article interesting though, because its partially true. Gamers today think they know a lot about what goes on in a real battlefield, but lets be honest, there is no substitute for actual combat experience.

I'd personally say the closest you'll ever get to a true combat experience at this point in time, is paintball. Although, I have read about the virtual reality simulators in which soldiers wear a body suit that, when shot, they feel enough of an impact to actually sit them down.

 

[Heeman89]

Its all fun and games until somebody gets hurt, or at least, thats what my father used to tell me. And pretty much every other parent has said at some point.

When thrown into a real life combat situation, I don't think that any amount of simulated combat is going to let you get any real upper hand. When bullets start flying, everyone is susceptible to the same reactions of panic, anxiousness, restlessness, and survival. I find this article interesting though, because its partially true. Gamers today think they know a lot about what goes on in a real battlefield, but lets be honest, there is no substitute for actual combat experience.

I'd personally say the closest you'll ever get to a true combat experience at this point in time, is paintball. Although, I have read about the virtual reality simulators in which soldiers wear a body suit that, when shot, they feel enough of an impact to actually sit them down.

Agreed, paintball and airsoft I think would be the closest you can get to a modern combat experience in this day and age but I think video games do help make it easier to shoot at a real human being though at least from a military standpoint because of the modern gory war games you have out today (COD, Medal of Honor etc) They all have blood flying and people screaming when they die which does happen in modern day warzones. I think video games and VR sims can help make it easier for a soldier to kill but you would need something like paintball or airsoft to help teach modern day military tactics and team work and other necessary skills needed in a modern day warzone.

 

[vxicepickxv]

There are reports of Taliban attackers firing at US Army and Marine forces at their bases, where several of the members would aim near enough to make it look like they were attacking, but not near enough to hit anyone. Most of the shots from the Army and Marines that hit were non-lethal.

 

[The Random One]

irronically the best soldiers, the ones that can deal the best, tend to be the people who can section off their feelings from what they are doing, the people who would normally fit into the classification of sociopath or psychopath

actually, a psychopath or sociopath has no need to section off their feelings from what they are doing - they have no feelings of empathy whatsoever. Not to say no supposed hero soldiers could actually be psychopaths (although I'd imagine the army would have the most refined psychological tests, like, ever) but you're confusing things. I'd say no soldier who has ever suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder is a psychopath or sociopath.

On topic... Yeah, I'd imagine people are much more comfortable with the whole 'killing' thing when they've been doing it make believe on the couches all their lives. But I think it'll come a time when they'll realize that what they've been doing is taking lives and they might not take to it kindly.

The most interesting thing to me in the article is how it says soldiers nowadays are more tech-savvy and can easily understand more complex concepts because they're used to stuff like cell phones and MP3 players. It's interesting because it holds true to first-world nations. I imagine the grunts that make up most of the army outside of the comfortably rich countries would be much more likely to have troubles figuring out how to reload their pistols.

(Something that came to mind right now... just yesterday I was playing the first Fallout, and I noticed that the icon for 'unload weapon', which shows a gun ejecting a cartridge, immediately and correctly informed me of what it did... despite the fact that it should have no meaning to one who has never even been close to a firearm, such as myself. Where am I going with this? Good question.)

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

America's Army 3 is surprisingly a very good game to learn how to play as a team, despite me living in Canada and there being some big glitches in the game that need to be fixed. You won't survive for long in the game if you don't communicate with you teammates and if you don't take the basic training, especially the medical training. I've had so many people that weren't able to rescue me because they didn't know what treatment they had to give me to heal me up. Take that damn medical training, people!

 

[TornadoADV]

The exposure people get now a days to war certainly helps as stated. But it equally creates another group of fighting men that gets winnowed out over time due to false bravado like the classic soldier was lost due to lack of any exposure at all. It all comes down to being smart and quick on your feet.

Brains, Muscle Memory, Courage, Tactics. That's what makes a great soldier.

 

[Aedes]

Intersing article. I agree with most of it.
Realism on videogames is reaching an impressive level. Not just graphics but also sound and AI. We are, like it or not, being "trained". I never held a gun before, yet I'm quite sure I know the proper way to grab it.

However, simulation and reality are very different worlds. No respawn points makes life unquestionably harder.

 

[LiquidXlr8]

How about I just end this thread right here....
First a little background for you. I am typing away at my keyboard on my big comfy couch because I physically cannot get up with out my cane (which is slightly out of reach at the moment) because last month I had my second surgery on my hip. I broke my hip serving my third tour in Iraq with the 172nd (Stryker). I was an infantry(11b/18b) soldier for six years in the United States Army. I served in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
I have played video games my entire life, I am also quite fond of tabletop games. I have played pretty much every violent and vile game you can imagine. I joined the army in 2001, so we were just beginning to have the revolution of FPS's caused by Halo. Let me say this as plainly and briefly as I can manage. There is no experience in any entertainment medium that can prepare you or anyone for the experience of real combat. It does not train you to think tactically. It does nothing to warden you against the panic you will experience. It does not MAKE YOU WANT TO BE A HERO on the battlefield. Your friends who are always on COD know nothing more than any other civilian. A very sound argument could be made that said friend is in fact WORSE off.
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".

 

[angryscotsman93]

Y'know what? Willy, my friend, I'm hanging with YOU for the inevitable zombie apocalypse.

Seriously, though. I'm a big military nerd. I'm in ROTC, I'm hoping to join the military as an officer (maybe get in on one of those psychic training programs, ), and I do know a lot of weaponry. Now, do I play videogames? Yes. Violent ones? Oh, hell yes. But do I think that just playing those constantly will psyche me up for my first fire-fight or ambush?

FUCK NO.

It's just not the same: when you get ambushed in a game, it's a very detached feeling. You have more time to react, since you're tougher than the average human, for some reason, and you've got enough ammo to gun down half a brigade. However, real-life soldiers don't HAVE all that shit. They don't have ten seconds to think to themselves, "Well, THERE'S the enemy. Hey, maybe I could flank'em..." Soldiers have to react instantly. Soldiers can't take half a magazine of 7.62 NATO to the chest and keep moving- that would shred them (and if this were some lame war-movie, probably end with the commander holding their shattered corpse, screaming to the heavens, "WHY~!?" But I digress...) and leave them to bleed out in some horrified medic's arms. They don't carry enough ammunition to wipe out half an army: they carry as much as they CAN carry without restricting their mobility, since the winner in war isn't the one with the most bullets, sometimes: it's the soldier who can run fastest (this is tactically speaking, of course). Our soldiers aren't god-slayers; our men and women are simply courageous people who willingly put themselves on the line for us.

Now, one of my goals in life (say what you will, it'll stay one of my goals) is to be an officer in the military, either the Navy or the Marines- maybe the Army. Ijust feel like it's the next natural step for me- I'm in an NJROTC (currently a platoon commander), I know copious amounts about the military (... Fuck, I just realized that I could probably fit right into the 'modern major general' archetype! Shit...), and I've always wanted to join the military. This feels like the next great step forward for me, y'know? But more than anything else, if I ever step out into a war-zone, I won't dedicate my survival to Bungie or EA- I'll dedicate it to my D.I.'s, and the accounts of so many past soldiers whose wisdom was collected in print for future generations.

 

[0p3rati0n]

There's a PC game called "First to Fight" and was used to train marines on how to control your squad and your enemies. It's fun

 

[okitana]

i Start basic training in <2 weeks

i really do not feel like i have any advantage coming in as an experienced gamer.
and i wont be announcing it to people when im there either lol.

 

[Quaidis]

How about I just end this thread right here....
First a little background for you. I am typing away at my keyboard on my big comfy couch because I physically cannot get up with out my cane (which is slightly out of reach at the moment) because last month I had my second surgery on my hip. I broke my hip serving my third tour in Iraq with the 172nd (Stryker). I was an infantry(11b/18b) soldier for six years in the United States Army. I served in Bosnia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.
I have played video games my entire life, I am also quite fond of tabletop games. I have played pretty much every violent and vile game you can imagine. I joined the army in 2001, so we were just beginning to have the revolution of FPS's caused by Halo. Let me say this as plainly and briefly as I can manage. There is no experience in any entertainment medium that can prepare you or anyone for the experience of real combat. It does not train you to think tactically. It does nothing to warden you against the panic you will experience. It does not MAKE YOU WANT TO BE A HERO on the battlefield. Your friends who are always on COD know nothing more than any other civilian. A very sound argument could be made that said friend is in fact WORSE off.
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".

I was going to state something about the horror stories that war tends to bring, or that the suicide rate amongst soldiers in today's world has gone up. Or perhaps about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder - which not only effects people who were on the battle field, but those that tend to their wounds (for example, that recent American massacre that a military psychologist committed because of the battlefield horror stories he had to deal with on a regular basis when treating patients.)

But this post I am quoting will do the job.

A game will do nothing to protect you from the mental impact of seeing your friend on the field screaming because his arm and leg were blown off by a grenade. It will do nothing to help you from the bullets and stress and pain. There is nothing that even comes close to the real thing.

 

[GrinningManiac]

I can't help but feel this isn't going to help videogames' cause when we say "it creates soldiers!"

Not saying that's what I think, but those games-make-kids-sociopaths types are gonna jump the gun on this sooner or later

 

[LiquidXlr8]

I can't help but feel this isn't going to help videogames' cause when we say "it creates soldiers!"

Not saying that's what I think, but those games-make-kids-sociopaths types are gonna jump the gun on this sooner or later

The Metal Gear series already touched on that, with as much logic as those panic ridden game-haters you're referring to.