Life in uniform: not just guns 'n roses

I was checking out baseball scores on ESPN's website today, and decided to look at the power rankings to see if editors were giving the Jays the credit they're currently due.  Despite their usual bias against teams north of the border, the ESPN pundits pegged Toronto at a lofty #3 on the list, which was very conspicuously brought to me by the recruitment division of the US Army.  Out of appreciation for their thoughtfulness, I decided to indulge the sportscaster by checking out their sponsor's website.  The experience that followed bewildered me far more than the Jays' recent success on the field, which is significant to say the least.  

At first glance, the homepage of GoArmy.com strikingly resembles the interface of a military-based real time strategy video game, along the lines of Command and Conquer or Warcraft.  Upon entering the website, I immediately embarked on a nausea-inducing approach from the perspective of some kind of attack helicopter, eventually being presented with a bird's-eye view of what is, ostensibly, a typical desert US army installation.  This interface acts as a type of virtual graphical sitemap: by clicking on a section of the "base", the user is directed to related occupational info.   A click on the link hovering above the MP station, for example, lead me to a video narrated by an ambitious young military policeman.  The video game-feel of the site is further advanced by the columns of soldiers and battalions of vehicles moving around in the background - overall, I wouldn't be surprised if they had contracted Electronic Arts to design the darned thing.

Initially, the whole spectacle seemed comical.  The awe-inspiring graphics, zealous accounts by bright-eyed recruits - it all came across as harmlessly over-the-top.  The biggest laugh came when I started talking to "Sergeant Star", the virtual guide who's job is to tell you anything you'd want to know about a potential career in the trenches.  Truly a marvel in web-based artificial intelligence technology that's worth checking out: click on the link on the bottom-right of the main page.  Just don't call him too many names - three strikes, and it's off to boot camp, private!

As I thought about it more, though, I realized how strongly the website affirmed some common critiques of US Army (indeed, western) recruiting practices.  My mind immediately went back to those World War II-era soldier's letters I read in Grade 10 history, in which farm-boys-turned-riflemen spoke of the excitement of leaving for foreign lands; the thrill of fighting for one's country.  Is GoArmy.com the US military's attempt to piggyback this timeless fantasy?  Apart from a few sober caveats on the part of Sgt. Star (which I really had to pry out of him, by the way), there really doesn't seem to be much on the site emphasizing the physical and psychological risk one inevitably takes on by signing the roll.  

Also, as classist as it may sound, the format of the site seems to have set a certain demographic clearly in it's sights.  Can anyone say uneducated, suburban, upper teens-early 20s male?  Not to say I didn't / don't currently play video games: I've had my share of Goldeneye-induced all nighters and LAN parties.  However, is any well-informed, thoughtful person going to give serious consideration to a career in the army because of a super-cool recruitment website?  I'm not in any way suggesting an average member of the said demographic would fall for such sensationalism, but it's pretty clear the army is trying anyways.  At the very least, I'd describe it as vanity; more critically, it could be seen as insulting to the intellect of potential recruits.  

Above all, I view GoArmy.com as a gross misrepresentation and glorification of the business as a whole.  Even if the army's chief role isn't simply to "kill people", as Canada's former Chief of Defence Staff Rick Hillier once so controversially asserted, the fact remains a life in the military is ominously filled with tough decisions and lose-lose scenarios.  "War is hell" is a truthful cliche, and a soldier's job is, all things considered, an unfortunate one.  The world of the army may very well be characterized by "courage and honour", as the voice-over on the discussed webpage claims it is; however, many have also experienced it as one crawling with death and despair.  The salient message of GoArmy.com simply fails in conveying this core truth.

I suppose I could be rebuked by a claim that a job in the army is "just another job" that millions of ordinary people work at every day, and should be treated as such.  There is, of course, truth to the second part of that statement: I know plenty of people who currently work, or have worked, in the military, including my best friend and family members.  I can confirm that they are (or were) in it just as much for an honest living as anyone else.  However, I refuse to accept that it's "just another job".  The reason that I reserve so much respect and admiration for members of the military is that by taking that gun into their hands (or wrench with which they fix a fighter plane, or microphone with which they call in an air strike), they're shouldering a degree of responsibility not experienced by other members of society.  Exceptional nature of the beast considered, GoArmy.com's "bed of roses" - or more like "guns 'n roses" - portrayal just doesn't fit the bill.