Submitted by U.S. Navy.
Saturday-Sunday, April 12-13, at the Washington State Sprig Fair in Puyallup, WA, the U.S. Navy will showcase its brand-new ‘Strike Group’ multi-scenario, mobile mixed-reality experience, which is designed to demonstrate the breadth and depth of Navy STEM careers.
Through leading-edge mixed reality, the ‘Strike Group’ provides participants with a fully immersive, hands-on look into the technology and teamwork that are central to every role in the Navy. “From the depths of the sea to the heights of the stars, America’s Navy is the most highly skilled, technologically advanced military force in the world,” says Rear Admiral James P. Waters, Commander, Navy Recruiting Command. “A STEM career in the Navy provides a life-changing experience filled with adventure, teamwork, and support, and the ‘Strike Group’ brings all these aspects to life in the most realistic ways possible.”
The ‘Strike Group’ comprises 3 distinctive, interactive challenges and experiences:
All Hands
Players will test their skills on the flight deck of an aircraft carrier in a five-person mixed-reality game. Participants will don a Meta Quest 3 headset and be transported out to the USS Gerald R. Ford, where they will team up to launch an F-35C Lightning II jet. Working together in different roles – from loading fuel to flying helicopters to piloting the aircraft itself – each player will be immersed in the experience of what it is like to serve aboard an aircraft carrier and their efforts influence a Navy mission.
Dive
Navy Underwater Construction Teams always are on call if an undersea repair is needed. In this interactive, virtual mission, participants will take on the role of a Navy diver, driving a boat to a location after a storm, then use their dive and welding skills to help repair a damaged pier.
Achieve
America’s Navy has hundreds of roles in every field – from nuclear engineering to aviation to special operations. To help participants see themselves in one of these careers, they can take a personality quiz that will pair them with a list of jobs best suited for them. The best part? Participants also will receive an AI-generated image of themselves in their recommended role.
Why It Is Called the ‘Strike Group’
The new “Strike Group” interactive experience is named after the Navy’s forward deployment formation known as a Carrier Strike Group. Comprised of roughly 7,500 personnel, 1 aircraft carrier with an air wing of 65 to 70 aircraft, 2 Guided Missile Cruisers, 2 Anti-Aircraft Warships, and 1-2 Anti-Submarine Destroyers. Carrier Strike Groups epitomize the leading-edge technology and teamwork that are synonymous with Navy life. The Navy currently maintains 11 Carrier Strike Groups.
Ah yes, the Navy’s new “Strike Group” experience—because nothing says war like a slick VR headset and a career quiz. Step right up, kids! Fly an F-35, weld a pier, answer a few questions, and boom—you’re ready to join the most powerful military the world’s ever known. It’s like Six Flags with a recruitment booth.
And of course, they leave out the real part: the blood, the trauma, the human cost. They’re not showing you what happens when the ship takes a hit and you’re fishing your buddy out of the wreckage in pieces. They’re not putting that in the headset. No, they don’t talk about the PTSD, the broken marriages, the lifelong injuries. Because that’s not good for the brand, is it?
And let’s not kid ourselves—if one of these kids gets sent off to war and dies in the process? They’ll come home under a flag, and the same politicians who sent them there will be too busy holding fundraisers, or golfing, or tweeting about how “patriotic” they are to even show up.
It’s not a “career adventure,” folks. It’s the war machine wrapped in a PR campaign. And you better believe the machine doesn’t give a damn once it’s done with you.