Video Games are a major part of day-to-day activity for the youth today, and the Navy is facing the challenge head on. The Navy Times today reports that equivalent versions of Wii Fit and Dance Dance Revolution could be used to help get recruits in shape quicker.
[Update: Nintendo of America told us that they're not working with the U.S. military in any official capacity. "Nintendo isn't working with the Navy or any of the Armed Forces to insert Wii products into their basic training camps," said a spokesperson.]
Navy Surgeon General Vice Admiral Adam Robinson states that using such games could help new sailors build better endurance and get them in shape more quickly.
“There are lots of programs now that people can [use to] become very physically active while they’re using interactive computer games,” Robinson said May 18 in an interview with Navy Times reporters and editors. “So, in other words, this isn’t about [starting] with computers and stopping [everything else] — because we’re not going to do that. This is about incorporating those types of activities into something that people can use to become more physically active.”
The Navy is looking into using computer-fitness aids due to the increased health problems inherent with recruits and sedentary lifestyles. Adm. Robinson noted that it takes more time to get sailors into fighting shape than in the past years. “I have no doubt that today’s youth and the people that we’re talking about are capable of becoming physically fit,” Robinson said. “But I think that there has been a definite difference in the amount of time that people have devoted to physical activity, and I think that is a manifestation of physical education in the school systems in America.”
“There is an issue in terms of physical fitness,” he said. “There have been more fractures and femur fractures and long-bone fractures in some of our young female recruits, and that’s related to the amount of activity and a sedentary lifestyle that they’ve had before they’ve entered the service and then the uptick in physical activity after they’re in the service.”
The Admiral did state that this solution is in early and conceptualization stages, and the retail versions of the games would certainly be tailored to the Navy’s purposes.
Video games and the military are nothing new, as all branches have used video games in some form or fashion to the public’s knowledge. The United States Air Force recently utilized the PlayStation 3 as a super computer for various research opportunities.
As for the U.S. Navy adding video games to their repertoire of fitness regimes? The Marines are probably having a real good laugh right now.
