U.S. Army recruiting at the mall with video g
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) – The U.S. Army, struggling to ensure it has enough manpower as it fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is wooing young Americans with video games, Google maps and simulated attacks on enemy positions from an Apache helicopter.
Departing from the recruiting environment of metal tables and uniformed soldiers in a drab military building, the Army has invested $12 million in a facility that looks like a cross between a hotel lobby and a video arcade.
The U.S. Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia has 60 personal computers loaded with military video games, 19 Xbox 360 video game controllers and a series of interactive screens describing military bases and career options in great detail.
Potential recruits can hang out on couches and listen to rock music that fills the space.
The center is the first of its kind and opened in August as part of a two-year experiment. So far, it has signed up 33 full-time soldiers and five reservists -- roughly matching the performance of five traditional recruiting centers it replaced.
The U.S. military says it has been meeting or exceeding its recruiting and retention goals, with 185,000 men
END OF ARTICLE
Because nothing teaches you how to be a good soldier like respawning after you are killed....
Nothing to do with A-rabs.
Governments always "glorify" army life, both from the angle of patriotism and serving their nation to learning a trade and working with the latest gadgetry.
How many young men/women learn the gung-ho spirit and then find harsh reality once they face battle.
They're just telling them that war is fun, and you get to kill all those A-rabs.
Remember when Top Gun came out.. Navy recruitment went up straight away.
Now the army woos its recruits with gadgetry or the promise of nationality..
Different times, different methods..
Indeed it would make no sound Alexa...
They call it the American dream because you have to be asleep to see it... --George Carlin