FORT KNOX, Kentucky – Thousands of soldiers signed up to be on the U.S. Army esports team and now the team has been narrowed down to 16.
The team is headquartered at Fort Knox, Kentucky. The program was developed last September.
Officials said their goal is to connect service members through the passion of gaming.
“I never thought 16 years ago when I joined the Army that I would be here running an esports organization within the Army and it’s kind of like a dream come true for most gamers,” Sgt. First Class Christopher Jones, esports program coordinator said. “For 2020... we'll have all our soldiers here. They'll be full-time. They'll be full time training mode, getting ready to be competitive for the next upcoming titles and some of the current popular titles. So, there'll be a lot of training."
The soldiers will be attending conventions and competing against other gamers in the U.S.
As part of their recruiting tool, they will go to local high schools, colleges and conventions.
“If we return to PAX South next year, while we're in the San Antonio area, that's just another venue to say 'Hey here we are, right (in) your local area, come out support your organization, come out (and) support the Army.’ And we can all just gather round our passion together,” Jones said.
Since many of the competitions involve money, payouts will be brought up for a legal review to determine how the money was won and whether or not the soldier gets the money or it goes back to the organization.
The program will be fully functional in October when all the soldiers arrive at Fort Knox.