Posted on 03/10/2022 9:24:05 AM PST by Rio
Last month the Military Health System put out a release that helped justify my father’s reasoning for ignoring my ongoing pleas for a Nintendo Entertainment System during my formative years – video games make you lazy.
Granted, he was also worried about us monopolizing the TV in the living room, but his approach does reinforce the concerns in the release – namely that new recruits are struggling with initial entry training, or boot camp, because their bodies are just too weak.
Quoting the release, “Today’s recruits are coming from a far more sedentary lifestyle, making their skeletons more prone to injuries because they’re not used to the kind of intense activity they will face at basic training.”
Just to clarify, the MHS is targeting Gen Z recruits aged 18-25, so it’s not those ever-aggravating millennials … this time.
The release goes on to quote Army Major Jon-Marc Thibodeau who states that, “The ‘Nintendo Generation’ soldier skeleton is not toughened by activity prior to arrival, so some of them break more easily.”
Specific injuries that seem to be occurring all to frequently from these “softer” soldiers are stress fractures, muscle strains and ACL tears, as well as other injuries from an increasing number of falls.
Interestingly enough, these statements come on heels of a separate release from the Office of Naval Research touting the potential of video games for soldier readiness.
According to Dr. C. Shawn Green from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, research shows that those who play first-person shooter games are able to more quickly enhance cognitive control, top-down attention, and peripheral visual processing skills.
The Office of Naval Research is leaning on these findings to design training for Marines and Sailors, as according to the ONR, playing these games can change the structure and organization of a person’s brain, helping to improve orientation and memory tasks.
In other words, these games help individuals to process visual data, remember more details about the environment, and then react to that situation with the proper procedure-based steps. In addition to combat maneuvers, enhancing this type of learning aptitude can be a huge assist to surgeons or pilots.
As someone who has been both a basic training trainee and trainer, my advice would be to maybe just go for a run before hunkering down for your next Call of Duty marathon.
“The Military’s Biggest Threat: Video Games”
Yup. All while more and more military systems require people to have gaming skills.
...all our neighbor’s nine-year-old son wants to do is stay inside and play video games....never wants to interact with an of his classmates, and in fact, on those rare occasions when he does go outside it is never without a mask (”Mommy, mommy ! where’s my mask...!!??”)... shameful....
A few years ago I read that the military uses video games in training. For instance tank crews played certain video games to hone their skills.
I’m a life long gamer, and I survey land from dark to dark, 12 hour a day, 6 days a week. Haven’t had a weekend in months.
I DARE someone to call me lazy. I do things on a daily basis other millennials couldn’t even dream of, for more time than almost any of them could stand.
I even carry a “scary, evil” pistol.
Sounds like his parents are poor excuses for parents.
It’s good training if you happen to be a DRONE driver, but what happens after the last drone gets crunched?
...spot on...my thoughts exactly....too indulgent...when my siglings and I were that age we spent virtually ALL of our spare time outside, and loved it....of course, no video games in those days....
“never wants to interact with an of his classmates”
There have always been introverts, even before video games were invented. The ability of people to plug into a virtual world 24 hours a day does probably make it less likely that introverts will successfully develop those crucial social skills though.
I was raised the same way. We created our own fun and games.
And in school we were taught HOW to think. Today students of all ages are taught WHAT to think.
“...first-person shooter games are able to more quickly enhance cognitive control, top-down attention, and peripheral visual processing skills.....”
Except they’re 300 lbs overweight and have a couch attached to their ass!
Their favorite response in training is “So What I’ll just regenerate!”.
After two years of this COVID crappe I’m going back to the office on Monday and have to wonder what it’ll be like to see people again.
I can only imagine what it’s been like for kids going back to school.
I’ve found a solution to this...
Airsoft / MilSim.
Like a real life video combat game that requires real physical activity.
Young boys absolutely LOVE it. Every young man I know loves it much more than video games.
Get you sons hooked on Airsoft. They’ll be in much better shape, and won’t do drugs...because they just can’t afford them!
For years now I’ve been advocating a solution to the overweight, sedentary, and slothful pool from which the army recruits. And on a shoestring budget.
The USG already has lots of relatively flat parcels of land. It also has tents that can act as buildings for sleeping quarters, mess halls, basic health clinics, shower and latrine, church and administration.
Staffing by veterans. The biggest expense is food tailored to the individual pre-trainee. Surround the whole thing with a chain link fence.
They bring their own clothes, not uniforms. And they train.
Each cycle at the camps is for six months. By the time they graduate and move on to basic training, they are in much better shape than those who come in off the street.
A rising tide raises all boats. Better quality trainees means better quality basic training.
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