In a report that will no doubt be music to the ears of video game critics and politicians looking to put restrictions on game sales, the Washington Post has interviewed a number of soldiers who feel that playing video games (particularly shooters) has helped them hone their skills—although playing a video game certainly can't teach you how to fire a gun. Many of the combatants commented that they felt more comfortable firing back at enemies because they had already been in that situation in games.

"It felt like I was in a big video game. It didn't even faze me, shooting back. It was just natural instinct. Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! " remarked 29-year-old Sgt. Sinque Swales. He continued, "The insurgents were firing from the other side of the bridge. . . . We called in a helicopter for an airstrike... I couldn't believe I was seeing this. It was like Halo. It didn't even seem real, but it was real."

"When the time came for [Swales] to fire his weapon, he was ready to do that. And capable of doing that. His experience leading up to that time, through on-the-ground training and playing 'Halo' and whatever else, enabled him to execute. His situation awareness was up. He knew what he had to do. He had done it before -- or something like it up to that point," added David Bartlett, the former chief of operations at the Defense Modeling and Simulation Office, a high-level office within the Defense Department and the focal point for computer-generated training at the Pentagon.

America's military forces have for years now recognized the power of video games as recruiting tools. The U.S. Army itself commissioned the creation of America's Army, a free online game with more than 6.5 million registered players, to be used as a way to aid recruitment. And other games have either been heavily influenced or actually based on real military tactics. Full Spectrum Warrior, for example, started out as a simulator to help train light infantry.

"There's been a huge change in the way we prepare for war, and the soldiers we're training now are the children of the digital age who grew up with GameBoys," said retired Rear Adm. Fred Lewis. "Live training on the field is still done, of course, [but] using simulations to train them is not only natural, it's necessary."

Some argue that this video game generation that keeps Xbox and PS2 systems in its barracks is ultimately more open to using weapons because of the constant exposure or desensitization from video games, which is precisely what the Army wants, since the soldiers in training are likely easier to mold as a result.

Lt. Col. Scott Sutton, director of the technology division at Quantico Marine Base, where mock-up M16s are used, commented that the soldiers "probably feel less inhibited, down in their primal level, pointing their weapons at somebody." He added, "[That] provides a better foundation for us to work with."

Some soldiers who have had trouble getting past the idea of shooting another human being have looked to games to help them overcome this natural feeling. Spec. Alfred Trevino, only 20-years-old, upon firing at his first human enemy said, "You just try to block it out, see what you need to do, fire what you need to fire. Think to yourself, This is a game, just do it, just do it."

For others, though, thinking of virtual battles when encountering real-life warfare just doesn't work psychologically. "What I saw was a lot of them discovered levels of innocence that they probably didn't think they had," said Evan Wright, author of Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Iceman, Captain America, and the New Face of American War. "When they actually shot people, especially innocent people, and were confronted with this, I saw guys break down. The violence in games hadn't prepared them for this."