The New Action Heroes
In a time of war, the Army finds innovative ways to promote its warriors
Neither Korea nor Vietnam, though, produced a combat hero that rose to the same prominence as Murphy. The public was more skeptical of those wars, and filmmakers and journalists of that era were less receptive to the Army's stories of individual heroism.
The Army is unlikely to create mass-market interest in current-day war heroes. Iraq has not been a full-mobilization war. While soldiers' families have been asked to make great sacrifices, most Americans have given up nothing. So when it comes to promoting Iraq war heroes, the military has set a more modest goal. Rather than creating national celebrities, they want to make sure these war stories are heard by a more targeted audience: young people of recruiting age.
Traditional recruiting pitches that highlight college money and job training fall short at a time when new soldiers face multiple yearlong combat tours. While the Army reported last week that it had exceeded its recruiting goals for October, during the previous 12 months it fell nearly 7,000 soldiers short of its active-duty recruiting goal of 80,000. And recruiters anticipate that the coming year will be even tougher. So the military needs a message that resonates with the patriotic instincts of young men and women. That is where the heroes come in. The story of a gas station attendant turned combat hero makes it easier for a young person to imagine he or she, too, could do something extraordinary.
Earlier this year, Chris Chambers, a retired Army major who helps oversee the America's Army game project, began thinking about the lack of recognizable heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. "There are thousands of soldiers winning Bronze Stars and Silver Stars, but their stories are just not known," Chambers says. As he thought about it, Chambers realized the Army did not need the press to tout its heroes, at least not with teenagers. Today, young people spend far more time playing video games than they do reading newspapers. "We think that America's Army [is] the most popular pop-culture tool the Army has available," Chambers says. "It might be able to create the next Audie Murphy."
Digital heroes. The America's Army game was introduced in 2002, with the idea that it could teach people a little about what the military does while entertaining them as well. In the past three years the free, online game has been a surprising success. About 40 percent of new enlisted soldiers report playing the game before signing up, and there are currently 6 million registered players, a number likely to grow with this week's release of a new version for the Xbox game console. The "Real Heroes" concept will be integrated into the larger America's Army program. The plan is to make digital avatars of nine different soldiers, including one woman, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, a military police officer who won a Silver Star for helping to kill 27 Iraqi insurgents. The digital likenesses of the nine real soldiers will "train" game participants and tell players a little about the battles that earned them their medals. As for the plastic action figures, the Army will release the first next spring, complete with a card that describes the soldier's heroic acts and background.
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