Iraq War Veterans Protest America's Army Game

Have any of you played this game? This game is designed as a combat simulation and is quite realistic in many ways. It will never be anything like real warfare, and furthermore regardless of which side of the fence you sit on. This is a game, and its intentions can easily be misunderstood. I recommend that you read about the game itself by visiting the website www.americasarmy.com and read the mission statement of the game. Yes it was made as a recruitment tool, however if you/r kids are signing up for the military because of a game, or if your concern is that they may joing the military, then maybe you should think outside the box and look at their influences. I don't think anyone joins the military thinking its going to resemble a game, nor do I think that anyone joins blindly without understanding the risks of their duties. Its a game people. Play it and enjoy it, just my two cents.

Oh, and I forgot:

HOOAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

@Jack Thompson

Jack, stop saying Hooah. You were not in the Army, you will not ever be in the Army, and you are not currently in the Army. It makes you look like a total and complete jack-ass to those who were in the Army. While I understand that your vocabulary is flawed and limited, resorting to gutural sounds to compensate for that is no excuse.

As for the rest of your post, you obviously didn't read the article. They are protesting that recruiters are using an unrealitic portrayal of combat as a recruitment tool. For Example, 6 minutes to get a squad across heavily fortified bridge, CSAR (combat search and rescue) for a downed Helo pilot with no concern about how to evac said wounded pilot, and don't even get me started about leaving wounded and dead comrades behind in a combat zone.

Besides those little details, the game also does not teach fire discipline, unit integrity, and unit trust. Nor does it include things like the hours of boredom that are permeated by minutes of shear terror.

If you want to talk about video games compared to real life combat, Jack. Enlist in the infantry first, get 3 combat tours under your belt, then you will be qualified to talk on the matter. Until then you are just some one who thinks they know-it-all but doesn't know the difference between incoming fire and a supressive barrage.

@GryphonOsiris
"Until then you are just some one who thinks they know-it-all but doesn’t know the difference between incoming fire and a supressive barrage."

Don't give him too much credit, he doesn't even know the difference between his mouth and a hole in the ground.

Trying to logic with Jack is pointless. He knows hes wrong about.. well most things, but he also knows he dosnt care because all that matters is if he can stur up enough controversy to make money off it. Lets face it, if Jack relied on his skills as a lawyer he would have been in the poor house long ago.

Sad thing probably is that the only reason Jack comes to these forums is to stur up the hornets nest and maybe get a few more quotes or death threats to use as evidence in his con. He will never stop saying "Hooah" simply because it does annoy you and thats what he wants. He will never register his account because that would make it easier to ban him, and even if God came down and told Jack to stop being so bad, hed keep on doing what hes doing now because Jack hasnt been playing for Gods team for a long time now.

Jackie boy called us nerds. I guess I'll go cry in my little corner.

@Jack Thompson
"The Nostradamus reference was with a wink, if you happen to be blind."

An attorney who jokes is unprofessional.

@Murry

He's been playing for Team Jack Thompson (who's 0 for ... y'know I lost count. I'm pretty sure it's 0 for something though.)

Jack. *shakes head* The sheer volume of what you DON'T know about videogames and their players could fill a multitude of libraries AND the local dump. The dump being PRECISELY where your self-promotionalizing, degrading, and disgusting little versions of the facts should be.

You? you're easy to read:
1. You stand on your little soapbox with some BS about 'saving the kids'. But we all know better. You're not about the kids so much as you're about the limelight.
2. Shortly afterwards you badmouth just about anyone who doesn't hold to your EXACT version of events.
3. Following that you promote the fact you were on TV (Usually the shows from nearly a decade ago, seeing as anyone who invites you now generally has no idea who you are and could care less if you're credible or not.)
4. Lastly, if you're not trying to dig up pity from your wife's cancer or quoting some bunk study on game violence (Or misquoting a credible one, for that matter), you try to throw in some mention to an event, generally Paducha or Columbine.

If you're a professional lawyer, I've got to question the standards of the Florida Bar myself. How you haven't been barred from practising law is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

Incidentally, I HAVE read that piece of grammatically incorrect piece of kindling you call a book. I didn't think I could be more disgusted with you before I read it. Afterwards, I found I actually had to resist the urge to shred it then and there. Of all the self-promotional, egotistical, manipulative, and dishonest things I've read, yours nearly tops the list, just half a step short of Mein Kampf.

May your God have mercy on you, you wretch. Frankly, i'd be only too happy to find you homeless in the street, just for the opprotunity to kick you in the ribs.

Ciao, AgnostoTheo

@DarkTetsuya

He pulled the same on me. Goos Job Thompson, you got your wish last year......

Actually, nevermind getting a law degree, it must be impossible to lose it.

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see, I suppose.

Why is it that every time I visit this website things have already degenerated into petty feuds regarding 'Jack Thompson'...

With that aside I commend these folks, not only for opposing the war, but also for highlighting how on one hand video-games are decried for imbuing the youth with violent tendencies, yet, on the other, they are used as propaganda which could eventually lead to actual murder and bloodshed; where young men and women are conditioned to kill without remorse.

I am not sure of the military recruitment levels in the US, but here in the UK the Ministry of Defence (MoD) are struggling to attract the numbers they would like (from 210,800 in 1997 to 195,900 in 2006), no doubt due to the calamities in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the former 168 UK servicemen and women have needlessly lost their lives as the British Army makes an ignominious retreat from Basra palace and the airstrip where, in the last four months alone, over 600 mortar and rocket attacks have been launched. Surely confirming that much of the violence is not 'sectarian', although the occupation ferment such divisions, by arming different militias and gangs in different areas, so that Sunni and Shia do not unite over issues such as the privatisation of the country and the handing over of oil fields; primarily to American corporations.

I know here in the UK the MoD use computer games as one incentive* to lure youngsters, often those who are poor with few prospects, into the armed forces. The MoD now largely rely on youngsters, still children I would say, for recruitment- 40% of new recruits are aged 16-17. Recruiting is schools is an insidious thing to do, in fact they pitch themselves as offering 'career guidance' rather than recruitment. Thankfully tutors and students have launched a spirited defence against this recruitment drive, in Edinburgh recently School Students Against the War (SSAW) held an event called 'Shout It Out!' involving music, speeches, stalls and workshops.

We should keep our schools, and our video-games, free from such glorifications of war.

*The New Labour Government is spending record amounts on recruitment, last year they spent £89 million, an increase of £3.6 million on the previous year. They bring military hardware and transport to schools, as well as launching magazines, websites and various activities all designed to ensnare children. One such example is 'Camouflage', which promises: rock climbing, helicopters, bob sleighs, rugby, tanks and computer games... they seemed to have missed 'Getting shot at'.

"Even among some military veterans, support for the war in Iraq is dwindling."

This comment is biased and pejorative. It is not news.

i wonder if they realize that this will just promote the game...

[...] Eine etwas andere Haltung legten US-Army Veteranen an den Tag: Sie protestierten unlängst mit dem Slogan “War is not a game” gegen das Rekrutierungsspiel des US-Militärs “America´s Army” (via GamePolitics). [...]

[...] Anti-war veterans protest at Black Expo [STLtoday via Game Politics] [...]

I have mixed feelings about this subject. It has been proven time and time again by plenty of universities around the nation that in fact, avid first person shooter gamers are able to distinguish important targets on the battlefield and are able to react quicker and spot points of interest in half the time than the latter. While of course, some stupid video game is not gonna prepare you for real life combat situation, that's not the point. Surely you guys can see this. Is anybody really attempting to argue that people think real life combat is like America's Army? I'm sure those people are the cannon fodder infantry on the frontlines that we need to go Rambo who scored 30 on the ASVAB. I do believe that using AA as a recruiting tool and a PR stunt is ridiculous, but saying that people that do extremely well in a simulation combat game don't have a slight advantage over the average is ridiculous as well.

i was there 03-04. i loved the army, my unit , and my country. the real focus should be on the soldiers, sailors, and marines who are no longer in service to this country. and especailly to those whom continue to serve. afterall the service to the country does eventually end . and as for protests over a video game,huh. see it first hand is much worse than a game could ever be. grow a set. protest the fact that vets that return have to go through enough sh@###, just to get what they need. or are lied to that there is no help for them.

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