The US 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 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.

(Reuters)

Luckily, the article quotes a dissenting voice, with Jesse Hamilton, a former Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006 and now a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War saying that,"You can't simulate the loss when you see people getting killed."

However, army recruitment numbers seem to have more to do with the increasing unemployment rate than any multimedia glamorization of war. I recall the same pros and cons argued over when Top Gun was released as what seemed like a long advert for the Airforce.

Then again, perhaps the army is recruiting for the future. A future where trigger-happy geeks sitting at a console will be flying real planes guided remotely in the hope that the body-bag count will be zero.

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