Army Training: It's In the Game! (props to EA sports)

Nowadays, video games are becoming increasingly popular among young people. Call of Duty, for example, consumes thousands of teenagers across the world at any given moment. Its main attraction is its incredible graphics and the game's ability to create a life-like environment for its users. While it's great that kids enjoy spending some of their recreational time on playing video games, it is somewhat unfortunate that they so passionately devote their time to a simulation world, which in no way, shape, or form can effect their real lives. They seemingly forget that they are actually a human staring at a 2 dimensional television screen, and not a U.S. Army Ranger defending America.
Recently, however, we have found a way to encorparate simulation in army training. The concept of simulation is easy: to create an environment that is not actually there in front of you. Keeping this in mind, simulation producers and the U.S. military have teamed up to use simulation as a training tool for soldiers. Simulation has the innate ability to produce a realistic experience to soldiers that are new to war. It can give a soldier the ability to know his way around a location, maybe a city for example, and familiarize him with the surroundings, all without him ever being there. Military simulation has other benifits too. It cuts down on the cost of ammunition and fuel.
Opposing claims to simulation is that it can make soldiers fall into bad habits because subconciously, the soldiers know that they are not in a real simulation, therefore, nobody can really die, and no ammunition can be wasted. But, I believe that with the right supervision, simulation can play a huge role in preparing our soldiers for war. I trust that the right people will be watching every step these soldiers make in the the simulation; precision and perfection will be stressed as in any other step of training. All in all, simulation saves money and is a huge helper to our military in just a few years of its existence... can't wait to see what it's like in 20 years!!

(http://www.army.mil.nz/at-a-glance/news/army-news/397/tasc.htm)