Last November, Public Radio International’s Here and Now broadcast a news story about the U.S. Army’s 1,000-square-mile National Training Center at Fort Irwin, in California’s Mohave Desert — an urban warfare simulator now being used to train soldiers bound for the real Iraq. Now a documentary film about the site, Full Battle Rattle, follows an Army battalion and role-playing insurgents “as they attempt to quell an insurgency and prevent Medina Wasl, a mock Iraqi village, from slipping into civil war.” Fake body parts, robot mannequins, costumed American and Iraqi actors, and Killed In Action cards are all part of the mix. The film’s site includes a trailer, a statement by directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, and a blog with links to reviews. It’s playing in New York City, and the DVD is coming soon. Salon.com’s Andrew O’Hehir writes:
In response to the most obvious question about this movie — why did the Army allow two documentary filmmakers from New York inside this training facility, unfettered and uncensored, for two full weeks? — Gerber and Moss have observed that the military is proud of the Iraq Simulation, perhaps more so than of the real thing. “It is one aspect of the war effort that has gone according to plan,” they write. Indeed, as the likable but bewildered [Lt. Col. Robert] McLaughlin and his troops lurch from one blunder to another, and the violence accelerates in this plywood Iraqi town (where the casualties are latex dummies with gruesome, photo-realistic wounds), the simulation comes to seem like an eerily effective replica of the real war.
The robot has a certain ‘AT-AT’ quality, doesn’t it? It’s amazing how creepily lifelike its movements are. If you had to trek across the desert or Antarctic, would you like a ‘Big Dog’ around carrying your gear?
MAARS features new software controls, which allow the robot’s driver to select fire and no-fire zones. The idea is keep the robots from accidentally shooting a flesh-and-blood American. A mechanical range fan also keeps MAARS’ gun pointed away from friendly positions.
The robot is also equipped with a GPS transmitter, so it can be seen on — and tap into — the American battlefield mapping programs, just like tanks and Humvees. These “Blue Force Trackers” have been credited with dramatically reducing friendly-fire incidents during the Iraq war. MAARS comes with an extra fail-safe, which won’t allow it to fire directly at its own control unit.
Last Summer, the U.S. Army sent three armed Talon IIIB robots, also know as SWORDS (Special Weapons Observation Reconnaissance Detecting System) to Iraq, where they were handed over to the 3rd Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division for “more realistic” testing. Apparently the tests went well - the commander of the 3rd Brigade has asked for twenty more. The army already has 80 more on order.
The [robots] will be used as a 125 pound armed sentry, not a combat droid. Or so the official announcement went. So far, the tests appear to have been successful. Swords can also be armed with a 7.62mm machine-gun (and 300 rounds of ammo), a .50 caliber sniper rifle or a 40mm automatic grenade launcher.
NEW FICTION: THE RIGHT PEOPLE by Adam Rakunas: So, it’s Wednesday after school, delivery time, and we’re doing the usual: I’m checking invoices on my cell, and G.R.’s violating the safety parameters of our merchandise.
“Gene,” he says, gripping the pickup’s wheel with one sweaty hand and his cell in the other, “check this out.” G.R. thumbs the keypad until his torso makes
Last November, Public Radio International’s Here and Now broadcast a news story about the U.S. Army’s 1,000-square-mile National Training Center at Fort Irwin, in California’s Mohave Desert — an urban warfare simulator now being used to train soldiers bound for the real Iraq. Now a documentary film about the site, Full Battle Rattle, follows an Army battalion and role-playing insurgents “as they attempt to quell an insurgency and prevent Medina Wasl, a mock Iraqi village, from slipping into civil war.” Fake body parts, robot mannequins, costumed American and Iraqi actors, and Killed In Action cards are all part of the mix. The film’s site includes a trailer, a statement by directors Tony Gerber and Jesse Moss, and a blog with links to reviews. It’s playing in New York City, and the DVD is coming soon. Salon.com’s Andrew O’Hehir writes:
