SAN DIEGO—It was a sunny California afternoon, and an Afghan war scene raged on the expansive grounds here of a little-known company called Strategic Operations Inc. View Full Image Michal Czerwonka for The Wall Street Journal Armed Afghan role player Basim Al-Shamary prepares for a military exercise. A rocket-propelled grenade whistled out of a second-story window and smashed into the wall of an Afghan house, sending shrapnel flying. An Afghan police pickup truck exploded, kicking up a column of mottled smoke. Insurgents exchanged machine-gun fire with U.S. troops. The battle seemed dangerous, but that was just an illusion. The mayhem was all for show, part of Strategic Operations' elaborate use of Hollywood-style special effects to replicate the look and feel of the war in Afghanistan to help train U.S. forces preparing to deploy there. Business is booming for Strategic Operations, which has found an unusual way of profiting from the U.S. escalation of the Afghan war. Many of the reinforcements President Barack Obama is dispatching to Afghanistan are likely to spend time on a Strategic Operations set.[Read more...]