Some U.S. military members who are itching to play a video game they’ve anticipated for over a decade can trade a commitment for several more years of their life in uniform for a few days off to play Grand Theft Auto VI.
As an incentive to reenlist, a U.S. Army unit in Georgia is offering active duty soldiers a four-day pass to play the popular game when it’s released this fall, U.S. officials told CBS News.
Over the years, the Army has used various enlistment bonuses — college tuition, choice duty station assignments or access to special training programs where soldiers learn to jump from airplanes or rappel from helicopters to encourage soldiers to enlist or reenlist.
The recruitment incentive isn’t service-wide, it was proposed exclusively for one battalion. But it’s possible it could be expanded.
Twenty soldiers at Fort Stewart in Georgia in the Army’s 9th Brigade Engineering Battalion, part of the 3rd Infantry Division, have already chosen this incentive as part of their reenlistment, an Army spokesperson told CBS News on Wednesday.
“The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what Soldiers are interested in,” Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, a spokesperson for the 3rd Infantry Division, said in a statement. “The command team, in conjunction with the career counselor, wanted to get soldiers excited to reenlist.”
Anticipation for the next version of the game is strong in certain circles, especially action fans and open-world game enthusiasts.
The game’s release on Nov. 19 is a major entertainment event for fans of the series’ action, storytelling and high production values. A trailer shows the game will again be set in a fictional Miami, with its first female lead. Rockstar Games’ last version, GTA V, launched in 2013.
The Army memo, which has circulated online, says any soldier who signs a reenlistment contract between Aug. 1, 2026 and Nov. 14 will be authorized for a special four-day pass designated to coincide with “the highly anticipated release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA 6).”
About 130 soldiers are currently eligible for the incentive, Tomko said. Eligible soldiers must reenlist for a minimum of two years and up to six years.
Military.com first authenticated the U.S. Army letter.
The Army’s courtship of gamers is not a new military strategy. CBS News previously reported that after missing its recruiting goal in 2018 for the first time in more than a decade, the service began looking beyond the traditional recruiting station and cold-calling young Americans willing to join. Recruiters headed to gaming conventions and the U.S. Army launched an esports team, focused on the popular video game franchise Call of Duty and other multi-player games like Fortnite and League of Legends, to find potential recruits.
In 2019, CBS News’ Tony Dokoupil traveled to a sold-out gaming convention in San Antonio where Maj. Gen. Frank Muth, who at the time oversaw the army’s recruiting command, said he was looking for the next generation of American soldiers.
“Is there something about what it takes to be a gamer today and what you’re looking for for Army jobs that overlaps?” Dokoupil asked.
“Yes,” Muth asked. “It’s the decision-making, it’s the ability to take in a lot of information quickly and to be able to make a decision … It’s about teamwork.”