New Way To Recruit
Build a military arcade to give a rush and hope that they will join. One spot costs $13 million dollars
At the Franklin Mills mall here, past the Gap Outlet and the China Buddha Express, is a $13 million video arcade that the Army hopes will become a model for recruitment in urban areas, where the armed services typically have a hard time attracting recruits.
The Army Experience Center is a fitting counterpart to the retail experience: 14,500 square feet of mostly shoot-’em-up video games and three full-scale simulators, including an AH-64 Apache Longbow helicopter, an armed Humvee and a Black Hawk copter with M4 carbine assault rifles. For those who want to take the experience deeper, the center has 22 recruiters. Or for more immediate full-contact mayhem, there are the outlet stores.
The facility, which opened in August, is the first of its kind. It replaces five smaller recruitment stations in the Philadelphia area, at about the same annual operating cost, not counting the initial expenses, said Maj. Larry Dillard, the program manager. Philadelphia has been a particularly difficult area for recruitment.
The difference is that if you lose in the game you can walk away…
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Now if they could simulate the enemy’s actions and show you what can really happen, that might be something….
I have a tremendous amount of respect for those who choose to serve in the armed forces, its not an easy or straightforward life, but I wish they wouldn’t try to sugar coat what it is to be a member of the military. Ultimately, you are choosing to be in a position where you may have to give up your life for your country. Its not a game, its hard, tough and for the most part its thankless.
Interesting! Never heard of this before……
Who does the military think they are fooling?
It must be really bad when they have to use tactics like this to get people in. As a kid, it was much easier to get people in. The military is getting so desperate that they were offering any student at my college a hummer if they signed up for it. That tactic didn’t work. Nobody stopped by their kiosk.
With all of this craziness in this world and especially how Bush screwed up world relations, I do not think that there are as many people eager in signing up for the military. I can’t blame them.