The U.S. Army needs recruits, and they’re trying to find them on Twitch, a livestreaming platform for gamers. With a new e-sports team, the Army hopes to attract young, tech-savvy recruits. But they haven’t found a fully receptive audience. And this isn’t the first time the military has slid into our gaming consoles. VICE News Correspondent Dexter Thomas Jr. digs into military gaming history to explain why the Army is looking for new soldiers through online video games.
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CREDITS:
Special thanks to Matthew Gault, VICE’s Motherboard reporter who wrote extensively about the Army and Twitch last spring.
Reporting from Dexter Thomas Jr. and Michelle R. Carney. Produced by Sophie Kazis.
VICE News Reports is produced by Jesse Alejandro Cottrell, Jen Kinney, Janice Llamoca and Julia Nutter. Our senior producers are Ashley Cleek and Adizah Eghan. Our associate producers are Sam Eagan, Sophie Kazis, and Adreanna Rodriguez. Sound design and music composition by Steve Bone and Kyle Murdock.
Our executive producer and VP of VICE Audio is Kate Osborn. Janet Lee is senior production manager for VICE Audio. Production coordination by Steph Brown. Fact checking by Nicole Pasulka.
Episode art by our host, Arielle Duhaime-Ross.
