Straight from Iraq

Beginning today — Veterans Day — the US Army will integrate a series of webcasts, labeled "Straight from Iraq," into its website and overall media campaign.

"Now you can find out what it's really like to be deployed in the Middle East from the men and women stationed there," claims the subsite on GoArmy.com. The effort — where users can field questions to Iraq-based soldiers — is targeted to Americans between the ages of 17 and 24.

This is the first time the Army has empowered outsiders to "interview," so to speak, overseas-deployed soldiers. And the Iraq war has never been so prominently addressed on the website, The New York Times writes.

The webcast will supported with other, more personable engagement efforts, with more emphasis on internet outreach and events marketing. Its ultimate goal is to demonstrate to future soldiers "what combat is really like," according to Lt. Gen. Benjamin C. Freakley, commanding general of the Army Accessions Command in Fort Monroe, Va., which oversees recruitment.

New TV commercials will encourage users to visit the refurbished site. Ads will compare the Army to a company, a team and a school, then scene-shift to soldiers performing various military tasks, like marching or saluting the flag.

"This is a progression, an evolution," said Frekley, who confessed the Army had had some trouble with societally acceptable recruitment campaigns in the past. "If we show the Army fighting, people say it's violent," he said.

"If we don't, people say it’s not truthful."

Cutbacks in Army sponsorships for events, such as professional rodeos, will be made to fund the new media features. Nine agencies were involved in the development of the campaign, eight of which are subsects of McCann Worldgroup under Interpublic.

Recent reports pegged the US Army's ad budget at around $1.35 billion from 2006-2011.