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Paul Nelson reportingHow can the Army reach out to a group of kids that was raised on video games? They're fighting fire with fire, and army officials say the strategy seems to work.
Few people play as many video games as Lucas Kenyon, with Gamerz Funk in Taylorsville. One game he's liked for a few years is called America's Army. "It's extremely interesting and extremely fun. I've enjoyed it for a long time and I am very happy that they've got it out there," he says.
America's Army isn't any regular game. It's an actual recruiting tool used by the U.S. Army. Did it make Kenyon want to enlist? Almost. "It did make me look into it. It did turn me into a military fan," he says.
Army officials say they need new ways to recruit. Salt Lake City Recruiting Company Commander Chris McGrail says its last system of finding people to enlist wasn't as effective as the Army wanted. "In place, we had a contract company which was basically civilian recruiters who were contracted through the Army to recruit for the Army."
He says Ogden Company made up for Salt Lake City Company's lower numbers.
The Army recently held an America's Army tournament at the University of Utah. McGrail says the game definitely turned some heads. "We've had about 300 individuals come down to the event, and basically that's produced us about 45 to 50 leads, which is actually pretty good considering the number of people who were just stopping by or coming by to check it out," he said.
McGrail says more events are being planned for later this year, and those tournaments will have a lot more things like a Special Forces trailer and a free-fall simulator.
E-mail: pnelson@ksl.com
