It’s a long way from “Iron Man II” banners and radio personality ads, but the Army has taken the idea of the metro bus billboard to a new, ‘counterinsurgency’ level.
Some of the mine resistant ambush protected vehicles that patrol around the Sharana area in Paktika province have banners festooned to their RPG-catching grates (collectively known as ‘bird cages’) that encourage the locals to join the Afghan National Army or to support them and the police.
It’s unclear how effective this ad campaign might be since Afghanistan has only a 20 percent literacy rate (it’s about seven percent in this province), but at least the U.S. military is taking some of their civilian marketing best practices to the battlefield.
…can’t knock ‘em for trying.
