A while back, the US Army hinted that it would be building a MMOG where a wide range of training could take place, as reported on Wired’s Danger Room blog. The Army is now looking at another element of its activities – post-service conditions – and wishes to build a virtual space geared to the challenges of amputees.

As posted on the Federal Business Opportunity Web site, the Army is soliciting a vendor to build a virtual support space. Support for amputees and their families, says the Army, “have proven to be extremely helpful to patients with a variety of different illnesses… the quality of life has been much improved by the use of simple support groups. Patients have been better able to cope with pain, have less psychological distress with reduced anxiety, reduced depression and have had increased physical activity.”

Noting that the physically disabled are active in virtual worlds, the solicitation give no other specifics as to why building a virtual support space would be specifically beneficial, but we can assume this to be true as the Army describes the forthcoming space as “a critical resource which (amputees) may not be able to be part of in the physical world.”