2008 Milwaukee Summerfest US Army "Killing Exhibit for Kids (over 13 years old)"

Latest Updates

• January 4, 2009 Urban Tool in Recruiting by the Army: An Arcade "$13 million video arcade that the Army hopes will become a model for recruitment in urban areas, where the armed services typically have a hard time attracting recruits"
  Sgt. Jennings said. “We’re basically a learning lab for the military, a way for us to interact with kids and find out what they’re interested in. People are going to join the Army, whether we had this or four or five recruitment stations.”

  Using computers to recruit people to use computers to kill people.

• August 6, 2008 Iraq Veteran Joins Protest Against Army Video Game
• July 29, 2008 There're Back! War games, recruitment tool at Six Flags - Chicago
  • "It does a better job than a 30-second commercial," said Army Col. Casey Wardynski.
• July 26, 2008 US Military Recruits Children: “America’s Army” Videogame Violates International Law
• July 4, 2008 Al Qaeda  Expanding Recruitment of Children
  • "Al Qaeda has successfully established a network for recruiting boys as young as 12"
• November 24, 2008 UN: Afghan children being recruited as fighters
  • "Most of these children were between 15 and 16 years of age and were tricked, promised money or forced to become suicide bombers."

• Here is the US Army's Virtual Army Experience that they want your children to experience at Summerfest: http://vae.americasarmy.com/
• You can also contact the producer of Summerfest: glittell@worldfestivalproductions.com
• For more truthful information about the consequences of War visit the web site of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.
• See the story below of a soldier who joined the US Army out of high school and was injured in a Humvee. War is NOT a video game! What's next from the US government, letting toddlers try their hand at virtual water boarding at day care centers?
• Even if you do not find the exhibit offensive, it should be removed for public safety reasons. On Sunday, June 29, 2008, in France 16 people were wounded at a military drill open to the public when live ammunition was mistakenly fired into the crowd watching the event. Do we really need kids shooting military machine guns at Summerfest?

-----Original Message-----
From: Mark.Culverhouse
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 12:02 PM
Subject: FW: VFP Action Alert - Military Presence at Summerfest

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance for bothering you, but the email below that I received today struck a nerve. I called the SummerFest phone number. This is not a joke. If you can find a few minutes to also call and register your opinion it might do some good.

I served in Viet Nam in 1968 (A year ago I finally uploaded some photos at:  http://www.highway60.com/mark/vietnam/ ). When I was discharged and returned to my home outside Chicago in 1969, I protested the war with the VVAW - Viet Nam Vets Against the War. The very first protest that I attended was at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry. The Army had an exhibit with a Huey helicopter with a machine gun mounted in the door. Behind it was a film projected on the wall looking down at people working in the rice paddies of Viet Nam. Children stood in line to sit behind the machine gun and pretend they were shooting at the moving targets in the film.

Unfortunately the lessons learned from the Viet Nam War have been forgotten by many as history repeats itself. If you know of anyone who might be interested in this issue, please forward this email on. Thanks.

 Mark Culverhouse

-----------------------------------------Original Message-----

From: Veterans For Peace
Sent: Monday, June 30, 2008 10:55 AM
Subject: VFP Action Alert - Military Presence at Summerfest

The military has a clear and dangerous presence at Milwaukee's Summerfest (June 26 ? July 6, 2008).  One exhibit is especially offensive: kids as young as 13 years old can aim automatic weapons from atop a humvee at a large screen to virtually kill people. (http://www.summerfest.com)

We do not want to desensitize our youth to the violence of "war," nor cultivate the twisted  reality that our aggression in the Middle East is "war," when the truth is that the overwhelmingly casualties are innocent civilians.  The setting for this bloodshed is a residential area with "targets" of uncertain identity moving through the streets.  This  aggrandizement of violence and glorification of our illegal invasions abroad is xenophobic, profane, and undermines the basic values we strive to live by in America.

This Army atrocity is located next to a rock stage as it targets youth; while they ask for an ID to prove age 13 or older, they willingly accept a child's word and collect their name, age, address, etc.; no doubt for future recruitment.

Summerfest representative Dan Minahan barks that the festival is a place to "forget about the war" where one can "enjoy real high entertainment value." War is NOT a game, and this exhibit needs to be shut down immediately. 

 Please call the Summerfest administrative office and demand that it be shut down:  414-273-2680.  (When I called, the person filled out a form with my concerns; I left my name & ZIP code; I did not give my phone #.)

[Bob Burkart-Lemke, Milwaukee Veterans For Peace;
Back to Mark

From the IAVA.Org Flier:

Robert Acosta, 22, joined the Army after high school, and got the call to serve in Iraq. In June 2003, a grenade was thrown into Robert’s Humvee and exploded. Acosta’s left leg was shattered, and he lost his right hand. He spent months recuperating at Walter Reed Hospital before returning to civilian life and enrolling in his local community college. When Robert’s prosthetic arm broke, an overwhelmed Veterans Affairs system kept him waiting for months to get it fixed. This is Robert’s story, but he isn’t alone. Thousands of veterans have returned from war only to wait six months or more to get the care they need.

Summerfest - Virtual Army Experience - http://events.americasarmy.com/event_detail.php?id=4325

"Join us as the Virtual Army Experience hits Milwaukee for Summerfest! The Virtual Army Experience brings the excitement of the exceptionally popular video game America's Army to life! You'll participate in a simulated attack and use adapted combat systems that employ laser engagement and force feedback technology to replicate the feel and function of Army equipment! Bring your friends and join the fun!"

Summerfest, Army recruiters try to put a smiley face on war - http://punditnation.blogspot.com/2008/07/summerfest-army-recruiters-try-to-put.html

"Apparently not content to be just the world's biggest music festival, officials at Summerfest are hosting a military recruiting exhibit called Virtual Army Experience, an incredibly violent interactive “game” in which participants shoot at people displayed on a life-size computer screen while standing on a real Humvee equipped with machine guns."

Sen. Herb Kohl (D-WI) and Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-CT) are both supporters of the War in Iraq.

They also supposedly believe that violent video games should not be marketed to children. So where do they stand when the US Army markets real violence to 13-year-olds across the US?

Sen. Kohl: "Over the past seven years I have worked closely with Senator Lieberman to address the issue of violent video games and children. At our insistence, the video game industry has developed entertainment's best rating system, has applied that rating system uniformly to the packaging of every video game sold in stores, and has promulgated aggressive anti-targeting provisions aimed at keeping the advertisement of violent, Mature-rated games away from children."

"The popularity of the most violent games coupled with the unfettered access that retailers give to children combine to create a real problem. The picture only gets worse when we consider the growing body of scholarly research on the behavioral effects of interactive gaming"

Fortunate Son by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Below is the schedule for the "Killing Exhibit for Kids" from: http://vae.americasarmy.com/

If you know people at these locations, please consider sending them this page's URL: http://www.highway60.com/mark/war_summerfest.htm so they can stop this from coming to their communities.

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