The US army entices would-be soldiers with videogames and Facebook

It would appear the army will do anything to get a few recruits to sign up and become part of the war against terror (or whatever they're calling it these days). The US army's latest strategy to gather more troops for Iraq, is to set up a giant 14,500-square-foot recruiting centre/video arcade/retail store (it sounds cool already) and expose them to loads of high tech s**t.

While this all sounds very good and technical, I can't help but be cynical and think to myself, is this just a clever strategy that'll make the army appear like a cool and exciting place to be. I feel like this is some kind of desperate attempt from the US army to (dare I say it) brainwash people into joining up.

What better way to persuade the kids to sign up, then with video games, cool gadgets, Facebook pages and numerous other tactics that'll be sure to strike a chord and seem appealing to a huge amount of young men. These army potentials will be exposed to high-tech gadgetry, such as flight simulators and life-size soldier video games. What kid (and grown man for that matter) would turn down the opportunity to play on a life-sized video game? I know I wouldn't - these are the things geek's dreams are made of. Of course this is going to be welcomed with wildly excited open arms.

The aim is to give potential recruits a taste of military service. But I'm pretty sure taking a bullet is 100 percent nothing like their high-tech life-sized soldier games. It might all be fun and games inside the multimedia recruitment center in New York City, but it sure as hell won't be a game once they're out there.

The army sure has come a long way in the recruitment process since the making of the Fat Sam poster hasn't it?

[via Animal New York]

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