Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

Along with 7 other soldiers Rieman was model for the toys which will soon be available in stores and, the Pentagon hopes, soon to be found in every playroom. In the Gentle Giant Studios in Los Angeles the selected "heroes" underwent a full body scan, which was then transformed into a 3D model by a computer after 30 hours of work.

However action figures in the image of real life US soldiers is just a small part of the complete advertising campaign, for years video games have been a part of the programme so that the gaming age group can also be reached.

A PC game fittingly titled "Americas Army" was released in 2002, and according to sources there are already more than 6 million registered players, of which over 3 million have completed the basic training level. The number of players daily lies between 500,000 and 600,000, and the complete playing time totals around 50 million hours! As is to be expected from an advertising campaign the game is free and can be downloaded from the Internet.

The game is a team based, first person shooter, and consists of basic training with resulting player development and added recruits of special units and technicians. It is described by the army as a universal game, in other words for everybody. For a potential recruit it serves as an interest-grabber, for the soldier as a training program, and for the gamer, simply fun.

The National Guard has followed with its release "Guard Force". This is available to all US citizens and is handed out by the recruiting booths.

Guard Force is a real-time strategy game which makes use of modern military equipment and units, resulting in these becoming well known. The 6 missions are a mix of stealth attacks, rescue missions, and emergency operations. In other words all the standard scenarios in which a national guard might find himself in.

With such adverstising tactics being employed it is painfully clear that the marines had to follow suit. In this game called "Marines Training: Search and Destroy" more weight is put on introducing high tech professions and targets on the 17 to 24 year olds by allowing them to take part in secret, and highly sensitive missions.

During the course of the game the players must find secret documents in a shot-down spy plane, while navigating underwater. They have to beat deep sea monsters and enemy troops. According to a spokesperson for the marines, the players can test their abilities in the many different roles in which a marine may find himself in. The computer game is more like a test; programmed in are special codes which, when found, reward the player with further information about the marines.

The Air Force is also involved in using virtual reality as a recruiting tool. "USAF: Air Supremecy" not only serves to recruit the willing and able, but also to better inform the general public. However, unlike the other advertising campaigns, this game is only available to the public at large events. Short missions introduce the 3 most highly developed planes, the F-33 Raptor, an unnamed Predator class, and the C-17 Transport. Official sources have confirmed that the main purpose this serves is to enable Air Force personnel to come into contact with potential recruits.

The free distribution of war games to the youth is surely one of most effective campaigns that the military has ever taken part in. Only very few can resist the urge and fascination of such a game, especially so because they are available free of charge. As these games are also heavily laden with moral values such as honour, national pride, and patriotism it could be argued that these games are a modern functioning form of brainwashing.

Now that the Pentagon is trying to invade the playroom with its toy soldiers, we only have to wait for the Bush administration to involve itself by forcing the companies to have Barbie dump Ken. That way the attractive doll could marry the army action figures, GI Jo style and let her sing "I need a hero"