“WAR isn’t about racking up a kill count, it’s about surviving with your soul intact.” So says Ryan Placchetti, lead writer on the gaming adaptation of Apocalypse Now. Placchetti is better-placed than most to comment — he served with the US army on a tour of Iraq in 2005.

The chief of the US Army Reserve said he has ordered a study of whether reservists are sufficiently trained in ethical conduct and how to treat prisoners following the release of photographs allegedly showing Iraqi PoWs being abused by US soldiers.