In 2018, the Army missed its recruiting objective for the very first time since 2005, a fact caused by a strong economy and also because of a slowdown in conventional recruiting methods, such as cold calls. Currently, the US government is testing out a brand-new technique for signing up military personnel, looking not only on the net, but at people playing games on the internet.

The U.S. Army is looking past the traditional recruiting advertisements as it attempts to pitch itself to a brand-new target market in gamers. A number of players were at a sold-out gaming convention in Los Angeles where a Major General who is head of the military’s recruiting command for the region, claims he’s seeking the future generation of American soldiers.

“Is there something that gamers have today that matches the requirements of the US military?”

” Yes,” the General responded. “It’s the ability to make decisions quickly, it’s the capacity to take in a great deal of details promptly and also to be able to decide … It has to do with response time, and teamwork.”

To help the Army achieve it’s recruitment goal, it started putting together the first all-Army esports team. With more than 7,000 active service soldiers now competing for 35 full time spots playing video games like League of legends, Call of Duty and Fortnite.

Whilst gamers may not fit the traditional stereotype of what it means to be the “America’s soldier,” they carry a lot of the characteristics the Army looks for in its soldiers, including competitiveness, team work and strategic thinking. We spoke one team about the Army’s new recruitment tactics. They had this to say:“There’s always a threat in everything the military do. There is a risk. And I think if we can find more ways to prepare our soldiers for combat, and that includes gaming, then we’re all for it.”