Tanks for the Inspiration

From Screen to Scholarship by Jack Dutfield, James Fleming, Millie Winter and Luca Soleil-Arnephy

Do you ever feel like your hobbies are a waste of time and they don’t really contribute to personal growth?

Here are 4 interviews with gamers, movie buffs, and model makers that will change your mind.

Caleb Cajudo, Joseph Fox, Ryan Aley and Margaux Python are four excellent examples of individuals who have used their previous interest in tanks in later life. Caleb’s obsession with tank video games from a young age has led him to pursue a degree in game design, Joseph’s love of models influenced him to pursue architecture, Ryan’s family history and childhood memories motivated him to join the Navy, and Margaux’s travel experiences led her to go on trips to important sites where tank battles had taken place.

THE SECRET TANK-LOVING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GAMERS AND THE MILITARY.

AN INTERVIEW WITH CALEB CAJUDO by Jack Dutfield

The relationship between video games and tanks may not seem that relevant at first glance, but how the medium of gaming and the institution of the military support each other, inspire each other and benefit each other, may surprise you.

Caleb Cejudo is a game design student at Bournemouth University, since childhood he has played a plethora of videogames involving tanks “I played call of duty, battlefield, war thunder”. I asked Caleb where his passion for tanks came from, “definitely from videogames… they just look cool every time you see one, and you’re like I want to be in one of them, I want to shoot someone.” Videogames are a unique vessel to experience tanks, “you can’t… just buy a 100k tank casually and just drive around Bournemouth or something, so being able to just drive the tank in a video game is already quite fun to see this vertical tank move about and you yourself controlling it.”

This pipeline from videogames to a deep passion for tanks is not unique to Caleb, in fact the US military has tried to harness this pipeline to increase recruitment for over two decades now. In2002, the US military released their own videogame called “America’s army”, this video game received rave reviews and was released free of charge to everyone in America, becoming especially popular with schoolboys who not coincidently were at the point in their lives where they were beginning to think about what future careers they want.

Colonel Casey Wardynski who came up with the ideas aid, ‘games are very vivid, they have the benefit of being a direct unmediated communication channel with young adults.’

Wardynski used videogames to get access to young men without anyone else getting in the way of the message.

This passion for videogames does not stop once someone has been successfully recruited into the military, sometimes, it even escalates. Recently the US military has created their own e-sports teams, these are members of the US military that play videogames at a professional level, competing in tournaments to increase the penetration of US military influence in these gaming circles.

They also stream that gameplay live to thousands every day in an attempt to advertise the military to young gamers watching their favourite games getting played.

However not all passionate military gamers’ channel their enthusiasm for tanks positively… when asked about this Caleb smirked “there is quite some drama on the internet…” quite the understatement as by drama he was referring to the constant, never ending cases of people in the military posting classified information about tanks in order to either win debates on online internet forums or to complain about ‘inaccuracies’ tanks in the video games.

The situation has gotten so out of control that people are beginning to wonder if tank related video games are a threat to national security. Even to non-military people like Caleb, the more gritty and realistic games with the most accurate tanks are where he gravitates. “recently I have been playing more War Thunder because that’s quite a realistic game”.

These exhibits are extremely eye-catching and stand-out compared to the relatively tame video game booths that you typically see. These impressive spectacles attract the ‘gamers’ walking around these conventions, drawing them in to become interested in the military and their hardware. This relationship goes both ways, numerous museums such as Bovington Tank Museum, which has the largest collection of tanks in the world, have exhibitions where tank video games are advertised, with booths you can sit in and pretend to be a tank commander in the videogames while sitting mere meters from real-world tanks. This attracts an audience of tank enthusiasts who may have not have even known these related video games exist.

Caleb is both a product of this relationship, and a perpetuator of it. As part of his game design project, he has created levels set in World War Two, developing tanks to litter the missions, using knowledge gained from tank video games to guide him, “since I’m doing game design, I have a small project based off World War Two where I have to look for tanks that were used in this certain aspect of history”.

Caleb will go on to inspire others to have a love of tanks through his creation of video games, just as those games he grew up with inspired him.

THE IMPACT OF TANKS IN POPULAR CULTURE

AN INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH FOX by James Fleming

The interview with Joseph Fox is a perfect example of how someone’s experiences with tanks in popular culture at a young age can influence someone later in life.in the interview, he discusses his favourite tank-related video games and films and how this interested him in the design aspects of tanks. Currently, joseph is doing a master’s degree in architecture and is presently using tanks in his final project as a way of traversing difficult terrain. From when he was little, he was interested in building tank models. This most likely would have started his interest in the design aspects of tanks was built upon his love for war films and his interest in history. Most notably, he talks about his love for the film Fury firstly because it contains his favourite type of tank, the Sherman tank, which he admires from a design perspective as it proved itself in every theatre of war. It was so good that it was also used in the Korean and Vietnam wars. And that they’re “so prevalent in popular culture.” He also said the Sherman tank is an example of expert design and engineering. He describes the Sherman tank as the “most iconic vehicle of the Second World War”, which is accurate as it was the most widely used tank in the Second World War; he also said that the film “glamorised the tank and bought home the reality of what war is” which shows the impact that these types of films can have. Joseph also talked about the tank games he played, the first being world war two tank battles on the PlayStation 2, which was his favourite game because of the historical accuracy of the game and how he could look at the evolution of tanks throughout the war. He discusses how tank games are perfect for educational purposes. He mostly talks about Second World War tank battles as real-life battles make them ideal for education.

This favourite level of Second World War battles was Kursk which he believed was perfect for demonstrating the success of the T-34 tank in the Second World War from a design. From an economic perspective, as they were able to be mass-produced, they would triumph over the German panzer tanks. The T-34 tanks were able to be faster and had strong turret face armour and surprisingly strong rear turret armour, along with it being very accurate. Joseph described the t-34 and said, “the design that reshaped the way tanks are produced” Second World War tank battles also allowed the player to explore the famous tank battles of the north Africa campaign, such as the battles of El-Alamein, which is good for demonstrating how tanks performed in different terrains; from a design perspective, it is interesting to see how tanks were made to perform in the desert and where tanks like the m4 Sherman where able to prove themselves despite having some faults such as catching fire more easily than other tanks. Second World War tank battles also furthered his knowledge and interest. “computer games have a great deal of value in learning in history” and “they really furthered my interest” further show the impact that tanks in popular culture can have. He also watched a documentary series called Tankies which “showed areal insight into the lives of tank crews”, which massively interested him.

Towards the end of the interview, he talked about how tanks impacted him in choosing a design field and made interesting observations about the evolution of the tank from when they were first used in the first world war to the tanks used today. In the interview, Joseph talks about the film All Quiet on the Western Front, showing the earliest types of tanks in the First World War. He was impressed by how the film captured the fear and other emotions felt by the soldiers when faced with a tank for the first time. Movies are perfect for seeing the evolution of tanks as tanks used in the First World War; as showing the film, All Quiet on the Western Front do not even look like the tanks today. He said that war films are “more real than the games. Design something that it has to be efficient to the degree of working well and being able to be fixed” the design elements of tanks are impressive as they are examples of efficiency with one purpose winning wars. He describes tanks as “complex pieces of machinery entirely devoted to ending the experience of others from the continued enjoyment of existence” he also said, “tanks being an expression of design”, which shows that they can inspire young artists.

FROM GAMES TO REAL LIFE:

AN INTERVIEW WITH RYAN ALEY by Millie Winter

The example of Ryan Aley, who decided to join the royal navy as an engineer, demonstrates how early exposure to war and tanks can have an impact on adult decisions. Ryan was born into a working-class household in east London. He enlisted in the navy at the age of seventeen as a marine engineer and has remained there ever since. Growing up, Ryan was interested by the stories told about wartime adventures and battle memories by family members including his grandfather and great-grandfather, who both kept mementos which they passed down to him. When interviewed, Ryan recalled a story that his grandfather told him of being posted in Egypt many years ago. He described an ‘after operation’ scene where his grandfather was asked to get a beer from a crate, which ended up having ‘an actual cobra in there’. According to a survey by Lifebook UK, 64% of Britons recall their grandparents telling them tales like this of life during and after war. The bond created through this between grandchildren and their grandparents is extremely valuable, as well as the stories themselves having a critical role in preserving the history of ordinary people. Only 8% of people have records of their grandparents lives written down for future generations. This is a significantly small number emphasising the sheer number of stories that are therefore left tube forgotten. Ryan’s connection to his grandparents through their stories and physical tokens given to him led him to develop an interest in battle and tanks as a result.

Additionally, Ryan spent a lot of his childhood ‘jumping on the Xbox’ and playing video games such as Call of Duty with his friends after school, to which he remembers as ‘good memories’. Over 80% of teenage boys in the USA play video games every year, making this a very common pastime for teenagers. Ryan’s life has been significantly impacted by the time he spent playing these games, as they further influenced him to join the navy.

Despite there being some controversy over whether children should be allowed to play violent games, Ryan believes that ‘growing up playing videogames… Benefited’ him mentally and has given him ‘better reflexes’ which he makes use of in his career.

Players utilise tanks in battle scenes in the video game World of Tanks, and every tank in the game is modelled after a real-world tank. It’s not unusual for video gaming addiction to influence future careers—as it did for Ryan. The relationship between playing wargames and enlisting in the military has been examined in numerous papers. In an effort to inform and recruit potential enlistees,

The US army itself developed the video game America’s Army.” Some people think that as combat weapon technology advances, the technique of using of drones in battle and the way controllers for video game play are used will become increasingly similar overtime, boosting the attraction of those who spend the majority of their time playing video games. People join the military for a variety of reasons, including for financial aid and to establish a stable career. For Ryan, growing up with stories of war and spending his time surrounding himself in fictional battles certainly motivated him to join the navy.

War films frequently feature tanks. The most well-known tank one being Fury, starring Brad Pitt. Real tanks were used in the filming process, which added to how well it captured what it was like to operate and live in a tank during a battle. The Sherman tank, an official tank used by the Us in World War II, was leased from The Tank Museum for the film, to create more realism. Ryan recalls visiting the museum as a child and being ‘amazed by’ the size of the Sherman tank as well as the Tiger tank. With over $200 million in total box office revenue, Fury was a huge hit. Ryan feels that films like Fury and Saving Private Ryan only gave him “more motivation “to join the navy. Public interest in war certainly increased because of films like these, which exposed the true reality of living through war.

Overall, Ryan’s decision to pursue a career was influenced by his early life. He most certainly would not have been as motivated to follow in their footsteps if he had not been submerged by the stories recounted to him by his grandparents when he was growing up. When he was a teenager, the prevalence of military video games in his daily life had a significant impact on his desire for real-world experience. War films are similar to this, which further piqued his interest.

FROM REALITY TO POPULAR CULTURE:

AN INTERVIEW WITH MARGAUX PYTHON by Luca Soleil-Arnephy

My interviewee Margaux lived in several countries throughout her early life which is led to her having a fascination of tanks in popular culture. In the interview she mentions how she lived in Poland with her family for a few years due to her father’s job as a diplomat. During her stay there she visited Auschwitz which she says left a deepening mark on her due to the atrocities she learned about there. She goes on to say that her visit there sparked her interest in history which carried on to where she visited Ukraine in 2014 during the Russian invasion of Crimea. Margaux remembers seeing several tanks on the road outside her hotel heading eastwards towards the war and was from then on, she gained an interest in tanks.

Despite seeing tanks, they were merely placed at the borders for protecting and not directly interfering in the conflict. Since the conflict involved a mix of irregular forces, militias, and Russian military personnel, the nature of the military operations varied, and tanks were not extensively employed. The primary focus for Ukraine was on deploying conventional infantry units, establishing defensive positions, and conducting limited military operations. The war ended up in a stalemate and was called a frozen conflict as both sides fortified their positions by building networks of trenches, bunkers and tunnels resulting in static trench warfare. Her time in Ukraine led to her to be fascinated by tanks in popular culture and books. Her favourite films to watch on the subject of tanks were Fury, All Quiet on the Western Front and Saving Private Ryan. The filmmakers in Fury utilized functional tanks from the era to ensure authenticity and realism such as a Sherman tank and also included German tanks such as the Tiger and Panzer. The Tiger used was the last surviving operational Tiger and was owned by The Tank Museum at Bovington, England. Margaux believed that the inclusion of real tanks helped to create an immersive and realistic portrayal of armoured warfare during World War II in the film.

She also thinks that the real tanks helped portray the tanks as frightening beastly machines used solely for war and destruction. While the storyline of the film is fictional, the film draws parallels the experience of many real allied tankers such as the American tank commander Staff Sergeant Lafayette G. “war daddy” Pool, who landed just after D-day and destroyed 258 enemy vehicles before his tank was knocked out in Germany in late 1944. The ending of the film also shares an anecdote with a memoir called death traps where the last stand of the crew ends with a battle against a German unit leaving only one American survivor and the surrounding area littered with German dead and wounded. Evidently, despite the film being a piece of fiction, there are foundations of historical storylines that helped evoke tanks as sinister machines. Margaux directly links this to the distorted sound effects of growls, roars and mechanical noises from the films she’s seen to what she’s seen in reality in Ukraine and how it is backed up by memoirs and books about tanks from 20th century.

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