Guys in the military, who've seen "things", how do you view military games now?

[shortylickens]

I chopped up bodies in Kosovo, while marines were killing and dying.

Seems to be that violent games and movies are more cathartic than anything else. If you can not get all bent out of shape over make believe gore then you know you cleared the real thing with no ill effects.

My uncle came back from Vietnam a changed man. Dad had The Wall painting in his office and my uncle Norm doesnt go in there any more.

 

[ShawnD1]

never been to war but the games are not realistic.

Especially the part where you get shot once and you keep running full speed.

More realistic games tend to suck. It may shock some people but real life wars are not fun. Cartoonish stuff like team fortress is fun.

 

[fuzzybabybunny]

I guess it depends on the person. I have another buddy who will from time to time look at his hands and weep, having a brief moment of being unable to deal with the things he's had to do with those hands. Maybe crying is his way of dealing. You remember when you were young, and your hands were doing things like climbing trees, picking up seashells on the beach, and now they're holding a gun and pulling the trigger with a person in their sights, and sometimes taking a knife and plunging it into someone. Special Forces. I get terribly sad when I think about it. Some of the stories I've heard - very difficult. He's had to make so many choices that were all bad no matter which option he chose, and he simply had to pick the one that would keep him alive. At the risk of sounding all flower-child, I deeply wish that we could all just live in peace. He went in because he wanted to make a positive difference in the world, to vanquish evil, but he's had to pay a terrible price, and so have the people he's had to deal with, some of them committing no other "crime" than simply being at the wrong place at the wrong time, looking in the wrong direction.

 

[ShawnD1]

Y'all should get him on some meds. There's a whole family of drugs devoted to anxiety problems.

 

[Atty]

A co-worker of mine who was in the army for his career says he can't play them because, "(he) can kill somebody way faster than these games allow." He was honorably discharged for medical reasons (IED ).

 

[bfdd]

My brother still likes playing them, but he was never really into them anyways. He lost a chunk of his leg and one of his best friends to an IED a few years ago.

 

[OBLAMA2009]

most war junkies get a hard on from killing people. i would think they would be more into violent video games and movies

 

[Powermoloch]

I have a friend who've spent a tour in Iraq, he saw alot of things. And he enjoyed COD and can't wait for BF3.

 

[Nebor]

most war junkies get a hard on from killing people. i would think they would be more into violent video games and movies

Wow, you really know the people that volunteered to defend your country. Douche.

 

[Nebor]

I played Call of Duty before going to Afghanistan, I played it when I got back from Afghanistan. The game is so far separated from reality that it's not even comparable. The only difference is that my attention span has been substantially reduced (in all things, not just video games) for reasons that I don't understand and can't explain.

If you wanted a realistic video game to simulate the wartime experience of the majority of recent veterans, it would go something like this:
1) Break the game down into day and night cycles of 1 hour per day, 1 hour per night.
2) Every day you put on all your gear, go outside and get a briefing about how you're going to do the same patrol you did the day before.
3) Get in your vehicle and drive around the same roads you drive every day, watching the people around you go about their everyday lives, by now indifferent to your presence.
4) Do this for approximately 450 hours of game time
5) On hour 451, you are killed. Game over. You don't even know what happened because the EFP ripped through your vehicles armor and killed you instantly, continuing on to amputate your gunner's legs below the waist and kill the driver.

That's the reality for virtually everyone not involved in the direct, kinetic fight. There's a saying, "This war is boring right up to the minute you die."

 

[Numenorean]

but now all I can think about is that this stuff is real.

But...it's NOT REAL IT'S JUST A FUCKING GAME!

 

[TallBill]

I played Call of Duty before going to Afghanistan, I played it when I got back from Afghanistan. The game is so far separated from reality that it's not even comparable. The only difference is that my attention span has been substantially reduced (in all things, not just video games) for reasons that I don't understand and can't explain.

If you wanted a realistic video game to simulate the wartime experience of the majority of recent veterans, it would go something like this:
1) Break the game down into day and night cycles of 1 hour per day, 1 hour per night.
2) Every day you put on all your gear, go outside and get a briefing about how you're going to do the same patrol you did the day before.
3) Get in your vehicle and drive around the same roads you drive every day, watching the people around you go about their everyday lives, by now indifferent to your presence.
4) Do this for approximately 450 hours of game time
5) On hour 451, you are killed. Game over. You don't even know what happened because the EFP ripped through your vehicles armor and killed you instantly, continuing on to amputate your gunner's legs below the waist and kill the driver.

That's the reality for virtually everyone not involved in the direct, kinetic fight. There's a saying, "This war is boring right up to the minute you die."

Pretty much this.

 

[Printer Bandit]

And, lets not forget Ty Ziegal; http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0703/a-thousand-words.html. When I see explosions in war movies, where the soldier is torn apart,... I am reminded of this and think; if this ever happened to me, I would prefer to just die.

they got divorced:
http://yosayword.wordpress.com/2008/08/01/renee-and-tyler-ziegel-divorce/

 

[keird]

I'm in Kabul right now and I've been building fighting positions for the last couple of days. As I was on a roadway waiting for a Jersey barrier to be moved I was musing how you can usually add obstacles in some FPS games in a map editor mode or something. You don't have to call the forklift operator and see if they're team is available, you don't have to wait, you don't have to pull security for them as they move the limited number of barriers that you have available, you don't even have to process the weeks of paperwork and emails authorizing the purchase of the barriers. In a FPS you just have to press some buttons. But then that turban bomb went off a few of blocks away that killed Rabanni and I suddenly had a sense of urgency to get back in the camp. What happens to you when there's a distant explosion in a game?

I love FPS games. I don't have to actually sweat when I'm waiting for my guy to climb up a hill. I never get out of breath. My back doesn't hurt no matter how many weapons I carry. It's great! Hell, I've known troops to return from a mission just to play hours of Call of Duty.

I've also worked at Brooks Army Medical Center and Walter Reed Army Medical Center. There are horrible fucking wounds that the wounded, their families and ultimately their nation will burden for generations.

 

[skyking]

Not video games but real life, my dad tried and could no longer hunt game. As with the Japanese he had killed, he had nothing against the deer. It was not his duty to kill the deer so he gave it up and sold his guns when I was young.

 

[kyrax12]

After reading these war stories from ATOT members... (real or not) it seems extremely terrifying and I will never go to fight in a war because I am a pussy.

I much rather exercise and maintain good health then to lose it all in one spot.


I just heard that being in the army, navy..etc is very fun because you get to travel and enjoy different cities around the world.

Is this true?

 

[GoodRevrnd]

I just heard that being in the army, navy..etc is very fun because you get to travel and enjoy different cities around the world.

Is this true?

My friend in the Navy certainly enjoyed is shore leave in Australia but he also spent god knows how many consecutive months cooped up on the Stennis, and that's a luxury yacht compared to some places you could be.

 

[keird]

I just heard that being in the army, navy..etc is very fun because you get to travel and enjoy different cities around the world.

Is this true?

Yeah. You can have some very memorable moments in your travels. During those deployments you can experience a completely new culture and feel like a rock star they way some locals treat you. I often forget the drudgery involved in these deployments, though. It's certainly a grind. You've put your life and your family's on hold when you're on a deployment and just like life; it's what you make of it that matters. There's a risk, just like when you jump in your car and drive, but you try to mitigate those risks. For instance where you and I will put on a seat belt, I will make sure that all my equipment is operable and that we have a plan that everyone concerned knows... and put on my seat belt. Defensive perimeters need constant improvements to make the enemy think twice before attacking or reduce their effectiveness, etc...

Open doors in flying aircraft, cool guns, travel to exotic locales, explosions - it's all there except for a good woman.

 

[sandorski]

I would think a Movie and a Video Game have very different affects. A Movie attempts to draw you in through all Senses and Emotionally as well. A Multiplayer Wargame is much more detached than that.