14 DAY TRIAL // From now on, you will have an extra reason to be proud of being a gamer. Looks like some Army chiefs are planning to recruit future Apache helicopter pilots from the gaming community. Apparently, gamers who spend a lot of time playing on their consoles have just what it takes to become a war pilot.
These kids apparently have the best hand-to-eye coordination, from playing on their Xboxes, PlayStations and GameBoys, according to the Sunday Mirror. This will happen in the United Kingdom, where senior officers in the Army Air Corp will tour British high schools in search for the best candidates. They want to find some future pilots for the elite Apache squadron.
Because the helicopters are so complicated to fly that it takes years to master, the Army officials want to sign up any potential pilot before he or she leaves school. They will offer to pay for them to go to university later, if they sign up now.
You probably know that the Apache unit has played a big part in the Afghanistan war, but now, the army needs more pilots to fly the choppers. According to a senior Army Air Corps source, there is no reason why someone has to go to university to fly an Apache. The source, quoted by the Sunday Mirror, added: "The skill in flying the aircraft is to absorb large amounts of information from different sources without becoming flustered. The new generation of computer-game playing young sters glued to their PlayStations, Xboxes and Game Boys already have some of those skills."