Army hopes interactive videos make smarter soldiers

Just over a year ago, a U.S. staff sergeant in Iraq decided to practice his shooting skills. His target: the Quran, Islam's holiest book.The military issued a formal apology, promptly dismissed the soldier from his regiment and reassigned him to stateside duty.But news of the shooting had already made its way onto YouTube, and a firestorm of outrage was ignited across the Islamic world. Protests turned deadly in Afghanistan.Back at the Army's Intelligence and Cultural Awareness Center at Fort Huachuca, Arizona, commanders knew they had a problem. In the 21st century, the Army was sending younger soldiers into an arena they had little cultural experience in, and at the same time, new social networking sites were poised to broadcast their mistakes to the world.Maj. Gen. John Custer, the leading officer at Fort Huachuca, knew that the Army not only needed trained linguists, but it also needed a new language of its own."The advent of social networking has changed the world. The soldiers who I see coming from basic to the intel center, what is the first question they ask? 'Are you Wi-Fi?'," he said.