Economy Imperils Game-Heavy Army Marketing Centers

Economy imperils game-heavy Army marketing centers
By Associated Press | NPR

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 virtual violence 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. Read more.