Onetime Presidential candidate Wesley Clark, the former NATO Commander, has a new TV gig–ushering demi-celebrities like notional pop singer Nick Lachey and Alaskan husband Todd Palin through intensive military training on the reality show Stars Earn Stripes. And despite the protests from Nobel Peace laureates against the gamification of war, Gen. Clark is unconcerned.
He tells The New Republic that young viewers may young people might “see the military through the eyes of Nick Lachey, and think, look what these people are doing. Pretty interesting, pretty tough, pretty awesome.”
Gen. Clark compared Stars Earn Stripes, an NBC series featuring mentors from various branches of the armed forces, to reality shows like Wipeout: “So I’d wanted to make sure that what we were going to do was serious and authentic and purposeful. And didn’t involve a bunch of people making fun of themselves.”
If it’s anything like this year’s Naval recruitment film Act of Valor (like Stars Earn Stripes, made with the full cooperation of the U.S. Armed Forces), this series will be a big hit and show wartime as fun and adventurous. To quote a decorated U.S. general, sounds pretty awesome!
