KEY POINTS:
The ARV Tiger attack helicopter I was commanding swept in low across enemy lines, avoiding hostile troops and seeking targets as a convoy below raced to rescue civilians trapped by hostile forces.
Tomorrow, if I wished, I could direct a naval combat, lead a flight of F/A-18 Hornets in a dogfight, or command a squad of soldiers picking their way through a hot and dangerous urban battlefield.
Welcome to the new age of Australian Defence Force recruiting.
With its hard-pressed forces operating in the Gulf, Afghanistan and the Pacific, and desperate to attract and retain men and women to man its ships, aircraft, tanks and guns, the ADF has turned to online war-gaming and video shorts. It has also launched a gap-year campaign to recruit school-leavers for 12 months, hoping to put them into uniform instead of farewelling them overseas for a year before returning to civilian apprenticeships, universities or careers.
Struggling against fierce competition in a job market starved of skills, the Government has committed A$3.1 billion ($3.7 billion) to boost defence recruiting and retention, including special moves to attract women and Aborigines.
The gap-year programme pays school-leavers to spend the 12 months as fully paid soldiers in the Army, with no commitment at the end but a hefty A$10,000 cash bonus if they re-enlist after completing a civilian trade or tertiary qualification.
On the recruiting website www.defencejobs.gov.au, gamers are given a taste of what life in the forces could be like. The site features a range of video clips depicting life in most branches.
Featured online at the moment are air cadet officers, combat engineers and naval acousticwarfare. But the games are the big attraction, scoring players according to computer warfare skills with both points and ranks, and listing the top guns by their game names.
The heaviest hitter at present is "admiral" Napper, who has accumulated a whopping 71,065 points, well ahead of "general" KingsOfPoker and "general" Grunt, the only two others to have amassed more than 50,000 points.
Two Air Force games, Supreme Air Combat and Operation Thunderbolt, have recorded more than 300,000 game plays.
Players in Supreme Air Combat lead a flight of RAAF Hornets in a dogfight, while Operation Thunderbolt requires the player to fly alone on a strike mission to take out an enemy air base.
The latest RAAF game, Operation Overwatch, has the player operating a temporary airfield and flying in food, water and medical supplies in a humanitarian aid mission.
Navy games include Battleship Extreme, a version of the veteran board game Battleship, in which the gamer assembles and commands his or her own fleet against enemy ships, bringing into play submarines and special weapons such as homing missiles.
"Detect the enemy with your Seahawk helicopter before pounding it with a three-shot barrage," the game's promo says.
On land, the Army's Advanced Urban Operations has the player leading a squad of soldiers equipped with weapons such as the AS97 sniper rifle and Minimi machine-gun through "new and dangerous terrain".
It rewards players who use their heads in combat. Or you could command artillery pounding the enemy with special rounds including phosphorous, cluster and smoke shells.
It is, says the Defence Science and Personnel Minister, Warren Snowdon, a bid by the force to engage young Australians.
"While more has to happen to attract and retain young people in the forces, it is critical to the future of the ADF that Generation Y and beyond can access and interact with recruiting information via the technology they are comfortable with."
