In the army now

Be a national Guitar Hero

What?: The US Army National Guard is rolling out its Rock Star Hero Challenge recruitment tour bus at various music festivals and other outdoor events in a bid to sign up new recruits.

The bus has been fitted with 52” touch-screen displays that allow potential recruits to participate in virtual missions and guitar-based videogames. Visitors will be encouraged to pose in front of eight different ‘green screen’ images of rock bands (that they can download via the web).

The 12-week tour kicks off in August and hopes to have a footfall of around 50,000 to 100,000 interested attendees. “We’re hoping that once they are there, they will associate the rock star hero with a Guard hero,” said Joseph Day, Chief of the Army National Guard’s Strategic Actions & Marketing.

So what?: The army is looking further afield than traditional shoot-’em-ups (a direct gaming approach was tried before with both America’s Army (2002) and Full Spectrum Warrior (2005)), as it now turns its attention to the increasingly popular music videogames market. Strange to think that rock music – so staunchly antiwar in the ‘60s – should come full circle. If John Lennon staged a sleep-in today, would he hide a copy of Guitar Hero under the bed?

“Taking the recruiting roadshow to its target audience using platforms and messaging that they understand is a sea change from the stereotyped image of the recruiting office. However, are the lives of a guardsman and a rock star really that similar? That’s a reality show I would like to see.”
Jeremy Paterson, Director of Content and Production, FRUKT

www.ngb.army.mil