Preparing for war in Iraq
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Photo-2 Anti-war protest: crosses line the route to George Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas -
Photo-3 Near Fort Hood, Texas -
Photo-4 Pro-war demonstrators, near George Bush’s ranch, Crawford, Texas -
Photo-5 Near Fort Hood, Texas -
Photo-6 Recruiting screen, Times Square, New York -
Photo-7 Teenagers in East Los Angeles playing Overmatch, the US Army’s computer game (launched 4 July 2002) for would-be recruits -
Photo-8 Computer players in East LA simulate life in the US Army -
Photo-9 A teenager in East LA playing the US Army’s computer game, Overmatch -
Photo-10 Deployment preparedness evening for soldiers and their families, Colorado Springs, Colorado -
Photo-11 Deployment preparedness evening, Colorado Springs, Colorado -
Photo-12 Deployment preparedness evening, Colorado Springs -
Photo-13 Soldiers and evangelicals praying together, Colorado Springs -
Photo-14 Posters outside Colorado Springs -
Photo-15 Target range, Colorado Springs -
Photo-16 Army training area, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-17 Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-18 Mannequins used in combat rescue and first aid instruction, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-19 Training for Transitional Teams, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-20 Mannequins for medical and combat training, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-21 A soldier interacting with a screen in Arabic. The language lab, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-22 Language classes in Arabic and Dari (an Afghan form of Farsi), Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-23 Part of Mounted Combat Patrol Training for Iraq, Fort Riley, Kansas -
Photo-24 An Iraqi civilian walking to work in Hawija, near Kirkuk, in northern Iraq -
Photo-25 Women outside a Baghdad bakery -
Photo-26 Soldiers from the 87th Regiment, 10 Mountain Division, inspecting a building on their base damaged by a grenade attack, Hawija, northern Iraq -
Photo-27 US Army, Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army officials meet with local council members, Hawija -
Photo-28 Troops playing American football at Forward Operating Base (FOB) McHenry, Hawija -
Photo-29 The repair of a bridge damaged by an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) outside Hawija -
Photo-30 Tactical Operations Center at FOB McHenry in Hawija, northern Iraq -
Photo-31 Tactical Operations Center, FOB McHenry, Hawija -
Photo-32 Inside the Tactical Operations Center at FOB McHenry, Hawija -
Photo-33 Tactical Operations Centre, FOB McHenry, Hawija -
Photo-34 Meeting of US Army officials, the Iraqi Police and Iraqi Army and leaders of the Iraqi Sawha movement (also known as CLCs, Concerned Local Citizens) at FOB McHenry, Hawija -
Photo-35 The sports club in Adhamiya, where Sunni and Shia athletes compete harmoniously -
Photo-36 A local contractor embraces a US soldier at the army base in Hawija, northern Iraq -
Photo-37 A local woman complains to a member of Delta Company’s 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Division, outside a reconciliation meeting for Sunni and Shia leaders, Bayaa, southwest Baghdad -
Photo-38 A reconciliation meeting between Sunni and Shia leaders, Bayaa, Baghdad -
Photo-39 Handy Arabic phrases taped to the barrel of a soldier’s machine gun, outside Hawija -
Photo-40 Reconciliation meeting between Sunni and Shia leaders, overseen by commanders of Delta Company based at FOB Falcon, Baghdad -
Photo-41 A meeting of Iraqi and American military commanders in Adhamiya, Baghdad -
Photo-47 The Pentagon metro station, Washington DC -
Photo-48 A patient at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-49 Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-50 Brooke Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-51 Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-52 Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-53 Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-54 Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas -
Photo-55 Children at a Grief Camp, Fort Hood, Texas. They are given counselling to help them deal with the deaths of their fathers on active duty -
Photo-56 Grief Camp, Fort Hood, Texas -
Photo 58 Times Square, New York
On a recent Sunday morning, I came upon an army recruitment tent in a park in East Los Angeles. A group of young people aged ten and upwards were demonstrating their skills with a computer game that has been developed by the US military and is being used in the battle for recruitment. Having spent the previous month embedded with US forces on the ground in Iraq, the scene in the park struck me as surreal, yet incredibly familiar.
A huge proportion of the operation of modern war – at least for the military of developed countries – is undertaken using modern technology, often in front of a screen and connected via the Internet. Even the primitive but lethal explosive devices used by insurgents employ mobile phones as detonators.
There are millions of young people out there who are highly skilled and almost addicted to games that are often violent and centred around conflict. In an interview in May 2005, Major Chris Chambers, Deputy Director of the Army Game Project and one of the directors for the America’s Army video game said: ‘What this means is that we make connections with Americans who might not have had a connection with the Army. We use the video game to make that connection. We’ve got 5.3 million registered users, we’ve got a ton of events that we sponsor via a grass roots marketing campaign… We normally sponsor events around the country to make one-on-one connections with mostly young people and that’s been hugely successful.’
So whether it’s a soldier plotting a course across a hostile neighbourhood in Baghdad in a Humvee in real life or a kid in East LA playing a game of a similar activity, the connection is made. The line was blurred long ago, and all that’s needed is a stirring mission to retrieve a comrade or to foil an insurgent plot hell-bent on attacking democracy. Playing the game instantly bestows honour upon the players, with the possibility of new recruits for the American forces in Iraq.
To read the caption of each photograph, roll your cursor over the top of the screen.
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