From Video War Games to Signing Up for Military?
Tim Casper, a crew cut-sporting 15-year-old from Victorville, peered into the computer monitor and hunched slightly as he maneuvered the video game's soldier into a flanking position.
Using a keyboard, Casper ordered the soldier to lob a grenade, then slap a new magazine into his assault rifle. Creeping past the burned-out shell of a Humvee, the soldier fired a quick burst into the back of what looked like the enemy.
"That's me, dude," said Jeremy Donnelly, 15, looking up from a video screen across from Casper.
The classmates, both Air Force Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps cadets at Victor Valley High School, were playing "America's Army," a realistic, multiplayer combat video game designed by the Army as a recruiting tool.
They were among about 2,000 teenage cadets from 40 local and national high schools who gathered in El Segundo on Saturday to show off their skills in the seventh annual West Coast National JROTC Drill Competition.
Students in crisp dress uniforms performed their drills with straight backs and steeled looks of determination, the heels of their polished shoes clicking on concrete.
Others practiced their flying skills in a Navy flight simulator or peered through infrared sights mounted on military assault rifles.
Across the country, about 3,000 JROTC units such as these teach self-discipline and leadership skills. They are not geared explicitly to recruiting students into the military, officials said. But amid recent military recruiting shortfalls, finding new ways to attract teenagers has become a priority, and recruiters from all branches of the military were out in force.
"It's a lot more difficult to find the best candidates because you're recruiting at a time of war," said Maj. Martin Casado. He is commanding officer of the Los Angeles Marine Corps recruiting station, which reaches from San Luis Obispo to Redondo Beach.
Events like this one, held by Raytheon, one of the nation's largest defense contractors, help the effort, recruiters say.
On display for the hundreds of teenagers, parents, children and veterans who turned out were the tools of war. "Can I pull the plug," a small boy asked his father, clutching a "baseball" grenade from the Vietnam era.
Across the lot, a teenager peered into the steel belly of an M1A1 Abrams tank and said to his friends: "That thing makes me want to join the Army."
