Virtual Reality in the Military

Virtual Reality in the Military

What is virtual reality and how can virtual reality benefit society other than gaming? Virtual reality is a system designed to allow the user to act and feel they are inside of the module. The obvious use is for video games allowing the user the most realistic feeling as if they were in the game its self. There are many other beneficial uses for virtual reality such as training. For this research paper, I am going to look into its uses inside the military. Granted it will never replace physical training, Virtual reality training for soldiers will better prepare them for battle because, it allows longer training sessions with less fatigue, and real life scenarios, and when solider return home therapist have a new tool to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.

First, let us look at how the military uses virtual reality for training. Being able to spend time training with virtual reality allows solider to experience more exposers to possible scenarios that occur in the field. With this training "system gives the power of simulation to the squad in order to close the gap of individual Soldier training and collective training," said John Matthews" (Maj. Loren Bymer 2012).with better training soldiers will be better prepared for battle with less exposer to animate threats. Another benefit of virtual training is the ability to interact with different squads around the world. Therefore, soldiers here in the United States can train with soldiers on a base over in Germany. As our textbook referred to the world as flattened, even though everyone knows the world is truly round "our computer technology has "flattened" it, meaning that people from all over the world can interact with each other and "plug, play, compete, connect, and collaborate"(Bowles 2010). With higher levels of interactive training soldiers can compete with one another without the dangers of real combat. A virtual reality simulation enables them to do so but without the risk of death or a serious injury. They can re-enact a particular scenario, for example engagement with an enemy in an environment in which they experience this but without the real world risks. This has proven to be safer and less costly than traditional training methods. (Virtual Reality nd).

Therapists have as found virtual reality to be a useful tool in treating post-traumatic stress syndrome or PTSD. What is PTSD? PTSD is "It's an emotional and psychological reaction to a traumatic event and is usually characterized by a life threatening situation, such as, seeing others around you die or severely wounded," said Ingram. (Ltozer 201)0. For this reason, why PTSD is seen more often in solider returning from combat than in civilians. "Soldiers have an inherent ability to emotionally disconnect from traumatic events in order to stay alive and complete the mission down-range,"