American Soldiers Are Gaming Addicts

The US Military offers active duty soldiers 4 day passes to play Grand Theft Auto as a re-enlistment bonus; 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. However, it is possible the program 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.