The U.S. army always had a long-standing problem with recruitment, an issue that would ebb and flow during times of good civilian employment and war. And when Uncle Sam doesn’t have the legal authority to round them up, each service would think of specific ways to try to get young people interested in joining. To recruit more soldiers, the U.S. army is designing esports teams from within its ranks for video games such as League of Legends, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Fortnite and Overwatch.
Thanks to this idea, they are now accepting applications from veterans, reserves, and active duty troops, to make teams that will compete in tournaments of games mentioned above. This new U.S. Army program also lists some other games such as NBA 2K, Madden, FIFA, Tekken, and Call of Duty.
To find out why the U.S. Army wants you to play army video games, all you have to do is read on.
Why The US Army Wants You to Play Games with Soldiers?
When the Army failed to meet its recruitment target for this year, they have decided to create esports teams. The initial goal was to recruit 80 000 young people, but this was lowered to 76 500. Unfortunately, they have got only 70 000 recruits which was still the best result and the highest number of newly signed up soldiers since 2010.
According to Ryan Meaux, staff sergeant, this easports plan was to use games to enhance the brand of the Army. With an internal tournament Tekken, which will be in December, this program will kick off, and the winner will represent the military at PAX South in January 2019. The U.S. Army also staged a Street Fighter esports tournament and created its first-person shooter, America’s Army.
The Army’s esports want to release a trailer of esports that will be presented at college campuses around the U.S. The teams of different colleges will compete against the military teams in North Carolina.
According to Kelli Bland, the Army Recruiting Command spokeswoman, ‘’Military personnel want to represent the U.S. Army in esports, believing that this will help address the growing disconnect with young people. ‘’
The initiative looks to get military personnel more relatable and visible, especially as traditional methods for recruiting such as phone calls are no longer that effective in getting prospects to sign up.
With the Overwatch League, esports has crawled into the mainstream. Disney and Blizzard announced that the matches of Overwatch League will be broadcasted on Disney XD, ABC, ESPN 2 and ESPN. The U.S. Army will take advantage of esports popularity to increase its recruitment efforts for 2019.
Conclusion
The U.S. Army is putting together a team of players from within its ranks to try to reach young people in the digital worlds where they spend too much of their time. They are calling for reservists and active duty troops to compete in gaming tournaments as one of the latest recruiting efforts.
