Could the United States’ next General Patton be a 13-year-old currently playing Halo 3:ODST?

That is not as far fetched as it may seem, according to Washington Examiner columnist Peter W. Singer.

Singer notes United States Army officials’ testimony in Congress that video games including America’s Army are more effective than “any other method of contact” at recruiting potential soldiers. A 2008 Massachusetts Institute of Technology Study found that 30 percent of Americans aged 16-24 had a more positive impression of the Army because of that particular game.

Not only that, Singer found officers willing to testify that gamers make very useful young soldiers, particularly in the piloting of remote drone vehicles. An Air Force colonel called skilled gamers “naturals” at the task that often requires years of training. As a caveat though, that same colonel said gamers didn’t understand the consequences of war as well as regular recruits.

“The video game generation is worse at distorting the reality of it [war] from the virtual nature. They don’t have that sense of what’s really going on. It (video games) teaches you how to compartmentalize it ( the reality of war).”

America’s Army makes no real effort to disguise its goal as a recruitment tool and that has drawn the ire of people that are worried the government is brainwashing youngsters. In May 2009, seven protesters were arrested at a Philadelphia mall that boasts a video game equipped recruitment center.

Read [Washington Examiner] Also Read [Game Politics]