THE first flash of gunfire came from a doorway. I swivelled my turret-mounted M4 carbine assault rifle as our armoured vehicle lurched along a bumpy desert road. The head of an insurgent filled my sights. I squeezed the trigger and his gun went flying as his body recoiled.

Another one dead, but there was no time to celebrate. An incoming rocket exploded in front of us. The Humvee shook from the force of the blast. I grabbed a rail and for a moment was disoriented. I began to wish that I had gone shopping instead.

The Iraq war is under way at the Franklin Mills shopping centre near Philadelphia. A few doors away from the Life in Pink lingerie store and the Banana Republic factory outlet, the US army has installed its most elaborate virtual wartime experience in the hope of attracting a new generation of recruits.

The centrepiece of the $13m Army Experience Centre is a group of full-sized simulators that allow wannabe soldiers – and anyone else with a taste for combat – to pretend they are driving armoured vehicles or flying helicopters into battle with faceless enemies who behave uncannily like Al-Qaeda terrorists in Iraq.

“We’ve found virtual experiences are an effective way to communicate the value of army service,” said Edward Walters, the army’s chief marketing officer. “We hope visitors will have a better understanding of the high-tech nature of our institution.”

The simulators are part video game, part roller-coaster, and surprisingly intense. With a couple of teenage sidekicks last week, I climbed into the back of an armoured Humvee and took control of the turret gun above the driver.

In front of us, three high-resolution cinema screens offered a panoramic view of a village in forbidding desert terrain. An army specialist, dressed in a black golf shirt and beige trousers, offered us some brief instructions.

“Shoot anyone with a gun and anything that looks like a roadside bomb,” he said. “Try not to shoot any civilians.”

Behind the digital genius of the combat simulation lies a problem for America’s military recruiters. After six years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the army has had to resort to ever more sophisticated and expensive measures to meet its manpower needs.

In the 12 months to October the army narrowly exceeded its annual recruitment goal of 80,000 active personnel. But it has reportedly had to offer higher financial incentives and is recruiting fewer youngsters who have completed high school and more with criminal records.

The Experience Centre is intended not just as an elaborate sales gimmick, but as a recruiting laboratory where the army can experiment with different techniques to spread the word among urban youths that life in the military is cool.

“Most people think joining the army means being a grunt and that Iraq equals death,” said First Sergeant Randy Jennings, a supervisor at the centre. “We try to show them that there’s more to the army than carrying a gun.”

Just as well, in my case. My team fired 602 shots in our brief exposure to battle in Iraq, but killed only 67 insurgents. I stand a better chance of being recruited as a lingerie salesman at Life in Pink.

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