Army video games get ‘Real’

Analysis:

This Newhouse News Service article appeared in the “Your Life” section of the Grand Rapids Press, which is usually media and entertainment focused. After reading the story would you say that this story is about entertainment?

The article begins with a testimonial from a US soldier recently returned from Iraq, who talks about his experiences in combat. Then the article shifts to say that this soldier has been chosen to be part of the “Army’s Real Heroes program, which is trying to make the names of today’s heroes well known the way Sgt. Alvin York was known in World War I and Audie Murphy was known in World War II.” Do you think that this is part of the Pentagon’s larger strategy for promoting a positive image of the US military? Media analyst Robin Anderson says “Computer games have also become key training and recruiting tools. The characters that inhabit virtual game worlds locked in endless battles between good and evil, double as “warfighters” and kill targets for military training.” The article does admit that these video games are a recruiting tool, citing the featured US soldier who says “that while the “America’s Army” games are recruiting tools, he sees them more as educational tools to teach people about the Army.”

The only other sources in the article are two people who are with the America’s Army video project. Why does the story leave out voices of those who have a critical perspective on the use of video games as a recruiting tool of the US Military? There are no student, parent or counter-military recruiting voices, nor is there any information on the amount of money being spent on these videos games and who is paying for them.

Story:

For Sgt. Tommy Rieman, earning a place on the team that creates the “America’s Army” video games was no game at all.

On Dec. 3, 2003, he was a member of Echo Company, 51st Long Range Surveillance, in a three-vehicle convoy in Iraq.

“Just outside of Baghdad, we got hit with three RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades), three IEDs (improvised explosive devices) and a ton of small arms fire. I threw my body in front of my gunner, to use my body like a shield. I was shot in the arm, the chest, and took a bunch of shrapnel in my body.

“Then we were hit with another ambush about a mile south of that, and by that time we were all (angry) and ready to fight some more. There were three of us wounded, and we still fought through it. Then I called in a medevac and got us out of there. So I got the Silver Star and Purple Heart.”

After earning the Silver Star, Rieman was singled out for the Army’s Real Heroes program, which is trying to make the names of today’s heroes well known the way Sgt. Alvin York was known in World War I and Audie Murphy was known in World War II. A “Real Heroes” collectible action figure of Rieman will hit major retailers this fall, and he is featured in the “America’s Army” online game.

Through that contact with the “America’s Army” developers to put him in the game, he began working with them as a consultant.

“These guys have been around since ’02, the game has. They’re pretty good on what’s going on, but they’re not in the Army, so sometimes they stray away a little bit. Basically they’ll create a map, an area, scenario, new training, whatever, and they’ll call me up and say, `Hey, we want you to come check this out,”’ said Rieman, of Kernersville, N.C.

“I make sure it’s accurate. If it’s not accurate, I give them the input on what they can do to make it better, such as the weight of (a weapon), or the kickback. Just say, on the M-4 when they fire it, it needs to have some kind of kick. Or the delay, say, if it’s a Mark 19 trainer, and it’s shooting out rounds. On the video game it would impact immediately, but there needs to be a couple of seconds delay, because it doesn’t impact immediately. Little things like that to make it real.”

Rieman, 27, works on both the PC online game and a forthcoming “America’s Army” game for the Xbox 360. He travels around the country, and was recently at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, where “America’s Army” is managed, to test the new 360 game, “America’s Army: True Soldiers.”

To develop “True Soldiers,” the Army partnered with Ubisoft, publisher of the popular shooters “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas” and “Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter” series.

“I can’t tell you anything about the 360 game until the launch, unfortunately. I’m dying to show you,” said Rieman.

All the Army will say about the game is that it has extensive multiplayer features for play on Xbox Live.

Rieman gave only one more hint about “True Soldiers,” slated for release Sept. 25. Will its gameplay be more like “Rainbow Six Vegas” or “GRAW 2”?

“It’s a nice balance. Let’s just keep it that way. There’s some cool stuff in there. I can’t wait. I’m like a little kid at Christmas.”

Rieman said that while the “America’s Army” games are recruiting tools, he sees them more as educational tools to teach people about the Army. The Army, in turn, uses the games as a basis for new training simulations, which are sometimes worked back into the game.

“We share resources between the public game and the real training,” said Frank Blackwell, program manger of the “America’s Army” Project Office in Huntsville. For example, the “America’s Army” team developed training simulations for the Javelin shoulder-fired missile and the CROWS — the Common Remotely Operated Weapons Station, which is basically a remote-controlled machine gun turret on a Humvee, so the gunner can remain protected within the armored vehicle. The controls are, not surprisingly, like a video game. Those training systems were subsequently modeled in the game.

“Javelin and CROWS, in the last major release (of “America’s Army”), were both training applications first,” Blackwell said. “Some of these game maps we use for training. It’s a common repository. That’s one of the things that makes ‘America’s Army’ different from other games. We have these weapons systems, and they’re deployed properly.”

Scott Johnston, “America’s Army” project leader, spent 2004 in Iraq as a member of the 115th Signal Battalion of the Alabama National Guard. Johnston, who helped develop the CROWS trainer, said that young soldiers raised on video games take to the new systems like fish to water. With the CROWS trainer, he said, “It takes a while to get used to maneuvering this thing around. You have to be quick, because things pop up on you. But kids, young soldiers who try this thing, anybody from 15 to 25, they pick this thing up and in five minutes it’s like they’re an expert on it. They’re so game-oriented, it’s amazing.”

CROWS uses a control grip with a thumb joystick, but Johnston and Rieman said they hope to adopt a two-thumbstick controller similar to a PlayStation 2 controller for the system, because that would be even easier for soldiers to adapt to and use effectively.

“‘America’s Army’ is the foundation of all of this,” said Rieman, gesturing to CROWS training equipment on the table, and across the room at the Convoy Skills Engagement Trainer — a life-sized Humvee cab and gun turret sitting in front of three huge projection screens where a video game-like scene is displayed.

“We’re using the number one tools. There’s nothing better,” Rieman said. “Next to firing the real thing, that’s it.”