US Army in $50m video game upgrade The US Army plans to spend $50m over five years to develop more video games for training soldiers for combat, according to the Army pub Stars and Stripes. The money was approved to fund a new "games for training" program beginning in 2010. It intends to watch for trends and technologies used in commercial video games that can …
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Training soldiers in a VR environment may not be so good for their moral judgment in the real battlefield. (just to make it clear I am not suggesting there is a link between video games and violence)
If a soldier is only trained in shooting up sprites or avatars, is there a risk this will mean when confronted with a real foe the VR conditioning will make them think of the enemy as non-human?
"....when confronted with a real foe the VR conditioning will make them think of the enemy as non-human?" Actually, that's exactly what you want. You want training to condition a soldier so that when the criteria (fits the rules of engagement for the day, does not conflict with orders such as to remain undetected, etc) are met, the soldier will then pull the trigger without further thought. The last thing you want is a moralising soldier thinking about whether or not he should kill or maim someone, that is why you have ROEs and officers' orders. Otherwise, your enemy could use the time taken up by moralising to kill you, your mate, or anyone else he has already set his heart on killing. Soldiers are conditioned to follow orders for a reason, so they react quicker and do not waste time and lives trying to make judgement calls. The armies of NATO (and many of the old Soviet armies) all spend a lot of time and money, with lawyers involved, making sure their training and ROEs are correct and as good a compromise between protecting the public, the enemy (yes, they have rights too!), and our soldiers.
Here's a simple (and on first sight, incredibly and stupidly PC) example from the ROEs for our troops in Basra. If they see a gent with a grenade, they cannot shoot him straight away. Even if he pulls the pin, he cannot be shot straight away but has to actually be seen in the act of throwing the grenade in such a way as to put members of the public or the soldiers at risk. If the soldiers do not act immediately and fire when he is in the process of throwing the grenade, THEY CANNOT SHOOT HIM AFTERWARDS as, legally, the threat of injury is transferred to the grenade, and unless the thrower then makes a separate attempt to attack (say aiming an AK) he can only be apprehended and arrested. So, training soldiers to react as fast as possible, without having to make too much of a judgement call, is what is required, and VR offers a very good way of doing this without the expense, mess and risk of injury of live ammunition training.
...trouble is many here like "Aristotles slow and dimwitted horse" (that probably says a lot about this guy) are all too quick to mock the military - when they are nice and safe at home of course.
Anyone dumb enough to think that... anyone... serving in the military is somehow dumb for doing so needs to take whatever it currently is out of their back passage and live in the real world for a change and show some respect - of course they can't, they haven't got the balls to do so...
"RE: Iain
By Matt Bryant Posted Wednesday 26th November 2008 12:45 GMT "
Seems like, Matt, the ROE need Immediate Revision. Conceal and/or Carry a Weapon always Renders One a Legitimate Target for Removal from the Game...... and Higher Societies.
Allahu Akbar .... Seventh Heavens.
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