Post Traumatic Stress
Posted by: kmikeym | From: June 21, 2004
I find that I don't like all these realistic Army games. They freak me out.
I was playing Full Spectrum Warrior, which is a squad based tactical combat simulator, very much more of a training tool than a game, and the intro level was a MOUT site. MOUT stands for Military Operations in Urban Terrain, and as a former enlisted man in the US Army Military Police Corps, I have spent a LOT of time in MOUT training areas. The training area in the game was amazingly close to what I experienced in real life. A few blocks of simulated eastern european war torn cement buildings. So I was playing the game, and it made me remember the actual training I did, and the image on the screen was sparking all these memories that have been dormant for a long, long time.
I suppose it's a testament to the game that it is so accurately portraying these places, but it's an eerie feeling. It feels like I am psychic. For example, I knew there was a drainage tunnel under the MOUT site that led from a ditch outside the "village" to a basement of one of the buildings. This was never revealed in the game, but I still knew it was there, because every MOUT training site has that. Also, I found myself getting so paranoid, because over and over in my real life MOUT Training we were told how dangerous and deadly urban terrain was. Every window, door, rooftop, gutter, vehicle, and fence could be hiding someone trying to kill you.
I kept yelling, "Scan those rooftops!" and getting really angry when Josh would move across an open area without cover. "Bounding overwatch man! Christ!"
That night I ended up dreaming about the MOUT site in Fort McClellan where I had spent so much time. I dreamed about my old friends Rudy and Gulli, Sgt. Williams whom I liked, and Sgt. Blanch who I liked to dislike. It wasn't a nightmare really, but in these "uncertain times" it's generally not something I like to remember, so no more of these based-on-the-real Army games for me. I'm going to start playing Mario games, Bubble Bobble, and Tetris.
who is this ? I was in the 209th
Posted by: Salsman at May 26, 2007 11:32 AM