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thedrifter
03-03-06, 06:11 AM
‘First to Fight’ engages two enemies: insurgents and drug abuse
March 03,2006
ANNE CLARK
DAILY NEWS STAFF

You’re a U.S. Marine Sergeant in a moonlit alley in Beirut, Lebanon. You pace the cobbled street with your weapon drawn, scoping out insurgent militia. The only sounds are boots on the ground and the broken wail of a siren in the air. Then an explosion, and the firefight begins.

But you’re not alone — you’ve got three Marines beside you and behind you, covering all directions in a 360-degree mount.

“Once you’re outside the gate, you’ve got full body armor; your head’s on a swivel,” said Marine Sgt. Jorge Granados. “It’s a 360-degree battlefield.” He’s talking about his two tours of combat in Afghanistan and Iraq, but he’s also describing a video game called “First to Fight”. The collaboration between Destineer Studios and the U.S. Marine Corps simulates a modern battle from the first-person perspective of a tactical shooter.

“It’s as realistic as a game can get,” said Granados. “The rank structure, how the Fire Team handled its mission; it’s accurate to what the Marine Corps does.”

The graphics and sounds are also authentic, and the mission opens with a news feed from an embedded reporter, describing the action before the players jump in. The game can train Marines for urban combat, but it was designed to carry an anti-drug message. The player will see what happens when a member of the Fire Team succumbs to drug abuse.

The insurgents fire on your team from their positions behind cars and around shadowy corners. You ask for sniper cover. You order your SAW gunner to suppress the fire, but he shoots too late; misses his mark.

Marine combat veterans helped create the game, which will go to every Marine commander. To give the troops a preview, four-on-four teams will battle it out next week at an open house on Camp Lejeune. The Marines will play “First to Fight” on computers, though a commercial version of the game will be available for Xbox.

Using a video game is a change from the Marine Corps’ anti-drug messages of years ago, done on Power Point slides in a classroom. “First to Fight” is targeted to 18- to 25-year-old Marines, a visual generation born in the 1980s. Now they play video games in the barracks, two or three at the controls with others watching on. They play as a team; they go into combat as family.

“When you’re talking about drugs, you’re talking about finances, family relationships, productivity on the job,” said Craig Reed, the head of Health Promotion. “How would [drug use] hamper the mission?”

At the heart of war, according to the USMC Warfighting Manual, is human will. “First to Fight” relies on players to make decisions based on how the Fire Team psychologically responds to fear and danger. During the game, some team members will show signs of drug abuse with a slow response or disobedience.

After the battle, players are “debriefed” with a readout showing how many rounds were fired, who on their team was killed or injured, who was impaired and by what drug, explained Caroline Graham, drug demand reduction specialist.

“It gives you the message while still having fun,” said Granados. “But I would have picked it up just because it said ‘Marines’.”

Ellie