Blackwater mercs say 'make music, not war'

by Randy Nelson on Jul 29th 2008 4:00AM

Okay, maybe what controversial private military company (PMC) ~~Praying Mantis~~ Blackwater Worldwide is actually trying to say by airdropping complete Guitar Hero setups to US troops in Afghanistan is "Make music, not war ... well, actually, make war too – after you've FC'd a few songs."

The Associated Press reports that James Overton, a Blackwater recruiter, wants to bundle an Xbox 360, projector, and an undisclosed Guitar Hero iteration together in a package that can be deployed as a battlefield moral booster. "Every [military] place I've ever been to overseas, they've got like backgammon and Parcheesi and chess, and they're all gathering dust," Overton told the AP, adding, "But this is the stuff they play at home. And any semblance of home we can give them is best."

Overton did not disclose who the troops call if their 360 displays a Red Ring of Death as a result of being dropped from the transport plane.

[Via Gamasutra]

Source

Tags: blackwater, guitar-hero, pmc, war, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (40)

"war has changed..."

can love bloom on the battlefield?

"War...war never changes."

Well since they're not gonna get DLC out there, the might as well drop in a Wii with the Wii version to avoid the RRoD, especially since it comes with Wii Sports.

Heh. I think you meant "morale booster," but I'd bet those mercenaries could use a moral booster as well. Perhaps they could also play some "Good vs. Evil?"

Unfortunately, the war in Iraq has diverted much needed supplies and manpower which is desperately needed in Afghanistan. The men and women serving over there need a lot more than Guitar Hero, and an infinite number of this game isn't going to wipe away the sins of Blackwater. This is a sham of a farce of a token gesture.

I agree but you see....what a minute, is that a condom in your avatar?

Comment of the year

... I think PMC stands for Paramilitary Corporation

Sounds more like a rapper's name to me. The Insidious PMC.

What happened to the days of MASH where you made stills and joked around? They should give em Rock Band, at least a few people can play at the same time.

Wow, I had no idea REAL PMC's even existed! I'm amazed the US or any other government could allow them to exist. I'm half in awe and half frightened.

Well, maybe it's more like 10% frightened. But still, that's crazy.

yes and they are out of control working outside the rules of engagment...
MGS teh truthzzz

Are you serious? There's so many of them now. Blackwater, Dynecore, and Triple Canopy just to name a few. Hell, even Wesley Snipes has (had?) one. Granted I know about them because as an infantryman the only people who pay extremely well for well trained killers are "contracting" (read mercenary) companies.

Anywho, glad to see this article hasn't degraded to people trying to stick up for Blackwater by arguing they're not mercs. Don't get me wrong, I've worked with the guys many times and a lot of them are great guys who are just trying to make some decent money, but even they won't say that they're not mercs.

Now if only I had stayed in Afghanistan for a few more months, I could've scored a new Xbox and projector!

THE PATRIOTS! IT'S ALL THE PATRIOTS!

Wow, yeah. Researching into this some more there are TONS of these guys....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Private_military_company#List_of_PMCs

MGS is now hitting a lot closer to home for me. With all the nanites and such, I kind of missed the bigger, more real message.

I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised. Mercenaries could compete with prostitution as the oldest profession, I'd bet. But it still feels a little scary.

abninfantrygamer you make an interesting point. There no way that companies like Blackwater should be used especially since they operate outside the law. But your point that they are regular guys makes me re-examine my image of kill crazy psychos. If the regular military paid more of if there were more opportunities at home this wouldn't be as big a problem.

It's scary how many people still don't realize that mercenaries are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq.

They are also being used here at home. Blackwater had an exceptionally large presence in NO following Hurricane Katrina.

The guy who started the company "Prince of Evil" or something or other once said that his goal was to make to the military what Fed Ex is for the US Postal Service. Be wary.

I somehow doubt they'd appreciate "Through The Fire And Flames", having lived through the real thing.

I agree :P

Pfft. How long do you think those 360s are gonna last before they overheat and red ring in those tempratures?

I dunno, people that make money off war and shoot civilians....can't see GH3 making that better.

Rock band maybe, but not GH3.;)

as great of an idea this is to entertain our troops, i don't think the 360 was designed to handle sand like that. The thing will last like a month tops.

Generic clever comment about RROD in sand

Being clever is generic now? That's disappointing...

I don't know what you've been doing, but RROD jokes stopped being clever a while ago. Like, a real long time. I mean, did you ever hear the dinosaurs make red ring jokes? No. So remember kids, it's not funny or cool to make jokes about hardware faults anymore.

...somewhere that turned from condescending sarcasm into random public service announcement.

It probably has to do with the fact that the 360 is an American product and the Wii is Japanese.

Whoops. This was a response to Foetoid's comment.

Blackwater can go to hell! They kill innocent people and have zero accountability. They have no place on our fine Joystiq site.

I'm sure they haven't ONLY killed innocent people, but I'm sure they've killed at least a few. Your representation of them as red-eyed angel-slayers is a bit off...try not to be so naive in the future.

Actually, you should get a clue xGENERAL DEATHx, because that is exactly what they are. Mercenaries for higher immune from the warcrimes the perpetuate. You'd do well not to be so gullable in the future, good sir.

All video game consoles are appreciated, thank you Blackwater. Shut into your pod at the end of a long day to avoid the heat and dust, you can choose to try to read something, watch some pirated DVDs, or play video/computer games. The GH/RB games are particularly useful because people who would not normally be into games hear the sound and are interested.

Blackwater: fighting the battles our pussified, left-wing society is too chicken to fight.

I'm guessing this comment comes to us from the battlefield then? You wouldn't want the "pussified, left-wing society" doing your fighting for you?

This thread is severely lacking in fist-pound references.

And I'm surprised no one has linked to the Penny Arcade comic yet.

Oh look! I found it:

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/03/07/

Between Praying Mantis references and the Mercenary outfit in Jericho PMC's don't get a great rap these days coupled with the expose book last year on Blackwater. These guys probably need all the good PR they can get.

I think this is a great idea -- even if it comes fomr Blackwater.

Microsoft has been a big donor of game systems and games to military bases since the first Xbox. Anything that makes life easier for troops in the field is a good thing. Whether or not you approve of the missions, the men and women doing the job deserve our respect and support.

Blackwater has been pretty effectively propagandized by the leftist media. In reality, Blackwater is a pretty diverse company - they don't just do security contracts and they've announced they'll scale that back b/c they're sick of having war events misconstrued by our leftist society, sitting in the comfort of their nice upscale homes. Even considering their security contract work they have a better safety record than the US military (hilariously this falls at the feet of liberals too, who gutted the military in the 90's - I mean come on, who needs a military?!?)

Ass Masterson,

How does that Kool-Aid taste?

Them dirty libruls may have gutted the military in the 90's, but that's when we weren't in 2, going on 3, wars. Rumsfeld was praising the light and technologically advanced military. I'm not so sure that he could be considered a dirty librul.

Blackwater has a bad reputation for good reason and this is a 2-pronged PR move. 1. for the public, to appear as if they care about our troops 2. as a recruiting tool for the troops to come to them. Nothing more.

The fact is that Blackwater kills people for money and most sane people aren't okay with that, even if it does make them part of some imaginary leftist society sitting in their imaginary upscale homes... which are probably about to be foreclosed.

Blackwater mercs say 'make music, not war'

Reader Comments (40)

Posted: Jul 29th 2008 5:02AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Jul 29th 2008 8:12AM juju187 said

Posted: Jul 29th 2008 12:59PM DigTheDoug said

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Posted: Jul 29th 2008 9:19AM LaughingTarget said

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Posted: Jul 29th 2008 8:14AM juju187 said

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Posted: Jul 29th 2008 9:21AM Xoonaka said

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Posted: Jul 29th 2008 11:01AM Jude said

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Posted: Jul 29th 2008 8:49AM Spunky Monkey 190906 said

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