CommunityEditor
09-10-2009, 08:34 PM
PHILADELPHIA — When the Army installed a Black Hawk helicopter simulator and dozens of combat video-game stations at one of the region's largest shopping malls, military officials said the new marketing effort would likely be replicated across the country.
Since then, the sleek facility has yielded modest recruiting gains while also becoming a target of peace activists who claim video game-hungry teenagers are being enticed — and then numbed — by the violent virtual war offered there.
But as the Army Experience Center enters the final year of a two-year pilot program, its fate likely rests on economics more than any protest.
The Army is spending less on marketing because the recession buoyed enlistment, said Maj. Larry Dillard, the center's program director. He doesn't think the military will be building any similar facilities in the near future.
"The recruiting environment has changed pretty significantly as unemployment has risen," Dillard said.
The center, which is in the Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia and costs about $4 million a year to run, looks like a huge, high-tech retail store. It features interactive video exhibits, nearly 80 gaming stations, a central seating area with armchairs and couches, a replica command-and-control center, conference rooms, and helicopter and Humvee combat simulators.
At its opening in August 2008, officials took pains to explain that the facility would handle enlistments but was also a place for the public to learn about modern Army life; any mall shopper could wander in and talk with staff or look at the exhibits. But the Army also closed five Philadelphia-area recruiting offices when the center opened.
Local enlistment contracts are up 7 percent over last year, according to Dillard. And, reflecting a national trend, there was a 49 percent increase in the number of "high quality" contracts — those with high scores on the placement exam, Dillard said. The Army recently raised enlistment standards, he noted.
"However, these comparisons are tricky because the overall economic conditions have changed, so it would not be prudent to draw conclusions about the AEC's impact at this point," Dillard said.
Kenny Feliciano, 24, of Warminster, came to the center last month to enlist. He described it as much more accessible than the site where his brother signed up, which is now closed.
"I always thought the traditional recruiter's office was a little intimidating ... all these hardcore Army guys staring at you," Feliciano said. "This is more of a laid-back, relaxed environment."
To play video games, visitors must be 13 and registered with staff, giving their names and indicating whether they can be contacted about recruiting and center events. About 11,000 people have registered, with more than a third making repeat visits, Dillard said. Most ask not to be contacted about recruiting, he added.
Those 13 to 17 are allowed to play "Teen"-rated games, including sports and shoot-'em-ups that do not show blood. Older visitors can play more graphic war games like "Call of Duty 4."
A coalition of peace activists held a large protest last spring that resulted in several arrests. Another is planned for Saturday.
"They have video games that are so violent and so awful ... and then we wonder why have a violent society," said protest co-organizer Elaine Brower, the mother of an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.
She blasts the Army for using video games to appeal to teens well below recruiting age.
"You're desensitizing their minds to killing people," said Brower, of Staten Island, N.Y.
Bill Deckhart, coordinator of the Buxmont Coalition for Peace Action, said many people don't realize the center is a taxpayer-funded recruiting station. His group holds monthly "educational" vigils at a nearby intersection and will also rally on Saturday.
Capt. Jared Auchey, a recruiter who works at the center, said the facility is the modern-day equivalent of the Uncle Sam posters, "an innovative way to communicate to society."
And he noted the same types of combat video games are available just steps away from the Army outpost at a mall arcade — with less stringent age restrictions.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/forum/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=132
Army Experience Center: http://www.thearmyexperience.com/
Protest Site: http://shutdowntheaec.net/
Since then, the sleek facility has yielded modest recruiting gains while also becoming a target of peace activists who claim video game-hungry teenagers are being enticed — and then numbed — by the violent virtual war offered there.
But as the Army Experience Center enters the final year of a two-year pilot program, its fate likely rests on economics more than any protest.
The Army is spending less on marketing because the recession buoyed enlistment, said Maj. Larry Dillard, the center's program director. He doesn't think the military will be building any similar facilities in the near future.
"The recruiting environment has changed pretty significantly as unemployment has risen," Dillard said.
The center, which is in the Franklin Mills Mall in Northeast Philadelphia and costs about $4 million a year to run, looks like a huge, high-tech retail store. It features interactive video exhibits, nearly 80 gaming stations, a central seating area with armchairs and couches, a replica command-and-control center, conference rooms, and helicopter and Humvee combat simulators.
At its opening in August 2008, officials took pains to explain that the facility would handle enlistments but was also a place for the public to learn about modern Army life; any mall shopper could wander in and talk with staff or look at the exhibits. But the Army also closed five Philadelphia-area recruiting offices when the center opened.
Local enlistment contracts are up 7 percent over last year, according to Dillard. And, reflecting a national trend, there was a 49 percent increase in the number of "high quality" contracts — those with high scores on the placement exam, Dillard said. The Army recently raised enlistment standards, he noted.
"However, these comparisons are tricky because the overall economic conditions have changed, so it would not be prudent to draw conclusions about the AEC's impact at this point," Dillard said.
Kenny Feliciano, 24, of Warminster, came to the center last month to enlist. He described it as much more accessible than the site where his brother signed up, which is now closed.
"I always thought the traditional recruiter's office was a little intimidating ... all these hardcore Army guys staring at you," Feliciano said. "This is more of a laid-back, relaxed environment."
To play video games, visitors must be 13 and registered with staff, giving their names and indicating whether they can be contacted about recruiting and center events. About 11,000 people have registered, with more than a third making repeat visits, Dillard said. Most ask not to be contacted about recruiting, he added.
Those 13 to 17 are allowed to play "Teen"-rated games, including sports and shoot-'em-ups that do not show blood. Older visitors can play more graphic war games like "Call of Duty 4."
A coalition of peace activists held a large protest last spring that resulted in several arrests. Another is planned for Saturday.
"They have video games that are so violent and so awful ... and then we wonder why have a violent society," said protest co-organizer Elaine Brower, the mother of an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran.
She blasts the Army for using video games to appeal to teens well below recruiting age.
"You're desensitizing their minds to killing people," said Brower, of Staten Island, N.Y.
Bill Deckhart, coordinator of the Buxmont Coalition for Peace Action, said many people don't realize the center is a taxpayer-funded recruiting station. His group holds monthly "educational" vigils at a nearby intersection and will also rally on Saturday.
Capt. Jared Auchey, a recruiter who works at the center, said the facility is the modern-day equivalent of the Uncle Sam posters, "an innovative way to communicate to society."
And he noted the same types of combat video games are available just steps away from the Army outpost at a mall arcade — with less stringent age restrictions.
Article: http://www.militarytimes.com/forum/newthread.php?do=newthread&f=132
Army Experience Center: http://www.thearmyexperience.com/
Protest Site: http://shutdowntheaec.net/