War games describes some of the newer military-training products coming out of the entertainment world:
Hill then unveils ICT’s latest offering to that end: an interactive learning program called ‘Army Excellence in Leadership’ (or AXL — everything at ICT has an acronym). The first part consists of a short film, Power Hungry. The setting is Afghanistan. An impatient young American officer has been assigned to oversee a delivery of food relief. He must deal with foreboding terrain, limited resources, confusion within his own ranks, and a pair of treacherous Afghan warlords named Omar and Muhammad. The situation deteriorates, guns are drawn, and Omar ends up nonchalantly shooting one of his own hungry tribesmen. In the second part, a digitally animated head appears in the corner of the screen to quiz the player on the movie. The player, in turn, can ask the talking head questions, and then pull up characters and grill them as well. Hill summons Omar and inquires after his motives. Omar gives a facetious-sounding response. I suggest asking: ‘What do you think of the American presence in Afghanistan?’Omar’s reply to this is, on the whole, rather evasive, but at one point he launches in to a subtle point about the clash of cultures in the Afghan war. ‘You Americans don’t want to believe that someone who offers to help you would do something you don’t like,’ he says. I find this to be a fascinating observation. Hill explains that ICT gets input from cultural anthropologists.
A large percentage of American soldiers now carry personal DVD players and game consoles, Hill explains. Army Excellence in Leadership has already been shipped out to soldiers in the field in Afghanistan and Iraq. The response, apparently, has been enthusiastic.