Tag Archives: soldiers
Video Games Training Tools for the Military
Imagine if part of your job training requirement included playing video games? Sound like fun? For young military recruits already experienced in gaming long before their high school graduation, this is a pleasant reality.
Playing video games isnt just for fun anymore. The military has found that not only are they useful training tools, but also serve as effective recruiting tools as well. For many young men the prospect of going to work and playing cool war-themed videos must be a dream come true.
The soldiers being trained today are the children of the digital age. These are the kids who grew up playing Game Boy. This form of military training is not new. Flight simulators had been used back in the 1940s to train potential pilots. The advanced technology of the games today has given the training a more realistic view of what war may be like. The Army even has a training and doctrine command project office for gaming known as TRADOC. They add some video game thrills and excitement to their simulations to appeal to the 19 and 20-year-olds that are serving and already hooked on playing when off duty. People who develop video games are hired by the Army to create games geared for military training purposes. This type of training is believed to improve and enhance hand-eye coordination.
Soldiers are well-known for playing video games during their downtime. It is one of their most favored leisure activities. Some are downright addicted to it. One of the favorites was a best-selling first-person shooter game called Halo 2. Although live training on the field is essential, the military believes that electronic simulations are also necessary. Some soldiers reported that during combat they felt like they were actually playing one of their popular video games. The line between reality and fantasy sometimes became distorted. There are soldiers who found that playing games like Halo and Call of Duty enabled them to execute in real combat situations.
Weapons used in these games are virtual replicas of those used by the soldiers in Iraq. Since soldiers today are far more knowledgeable about weaponry than their predecessors, they are easier to train. This is due to the fact that theyve grown up with first-person shooter games long before joining the military. Being able to shoot and blow up people, objects, monsters, etc., in the virtual reality world of video games, helps soldiers of this generation feel less inhibited when pointing their real weapons at real enemies.
The goal of the soldier in war and while playing video games is the same: kill the other person and survive. Obviously real war is definitely not the same experience encountered in the virtual reality world. Video games cannot prepare soldiers for the horrors of battle and the deaths of innocent people. It may help them become better shooters, but the emotional trauma may be harder to deal with and walk away from. Games are fun because theyre not real. In war, soldiers cant just press the restart button and start a new game.
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Horses in Greek Mythology
Horses are quite popular in all forms of mythology. The horse is so well loved by humans that they immortalize them in myths and stories. What is amazing is that stories about horses are not limited to a certain geographic location. Myths and stories about the horse are seen all over the world including ancient Greece, Rome and China. These are some of the horses that are popular in Greek Mythology.
One of the more popular horses in Greek mythology is Pegasus, the winged horse. He is said to be the descendant of the Greek god Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa. When Medusas head was cut off two offspring’s sprouted from her neck: Pegasus and his brother, Chrysaor. Contrary to popular belief which probably stemmed from the Disney movie Hercules, Pegasus did not accompany Hercules in any of his adventures; rather he accompanied the heroes Bellerophon and Perseus.
The epic poem made by the poet Homer also includes another famous horse. This is the Trojan horse sent by the Greeks in order to trick the Trojans into letting them into their impenetrable walls. They left the wooden horse outside the gates of Troy. Troy, thinking it a gift of surrender from the Greeks allows it inside the city. Unbeknownst to them the horse is filled with the Greek soldiers. When night falls, the soldiers exit the horse and burn down the city of Troy.
Centaurs are also a popular part of Greek Mythology and can still be seen in fantasy novels today. Centaurs are half man, half horse. Stories differ when explaining the origins of the Centaur. Some say that the Centaur was the offspring of Ixion and Nephele, a cloud made in the image of Hera. Others claim that they are the offspring of the God Apollo and Stilbe. Most Centaurs are male but there are female centaurs known as Kentaurides. They are barely mentioned in actual Greek mythology but are mentioned in future works such as those created by Ovid. They are seen even in fantasy novels today such as –The Chronicles of Narnia– and the Harry Potter Series.
The Sileni are another, lesser known horse creature from Greek Mythology. They have the body of a man and the ears, tail and sometimes the legs of a horse. The Sileni are followers of Dionysus. They are usually bald aging men with flat noses and thick lips. The Silenus is said to be the wisest and drunkest of all the other Sileni and remained as the teacher of the young god.