 The United States military has had a strong presence in video games since the dawn of the medium. With appearances and genres from primitive arcade shooters to real-time strategy, first person shooters, side-scrollers and the occasional beat-em-ups. Today, the Army is using commercial gaming tech and training. Soldiers run through team fighting scenarios within tailor-made battle environments, where their trigger-fast decision-making is put to the test. But training is not where the connection ends. If you've ever served, you can attest to the popularity of video games in the military. Whether you've been on base stateside or sweating it out in Iraq, it was rare to see a barracks without a gaming console, and three or four people huddled around with controllers in hand. The stressors of being a soldier are real, so duking it out with your battle buddy in a digital world can relieve some of that pressure. For some, it's more than just stress relief, they're fueled by the thrill of competition. That's where competitive gaming, or eSports, comes into the equation. eSports drew 258 million unique viewers globally last year, according to research firm Superdata. That tops the 204 million unique viewers who watched NFL football games in 2016. It doesn't take a gamer to notice the growing popularity of online gaming, so the Army getting online to reach a bigger audience through competitive gaming seems like a logical step. U.S. Army eSports is important because we get to connect America to its Army through the passion of gaming. The way we're going to do that is year after year, gaming as a medium has been growing consistently, and soldiers have grown as gamers before they even joined the Army. So gaming has already been a part of the soldier community. It sounds too good to be true, but yes, the Army has created an eSports team and is actively looking for soldiers to wear the black and gold as competitive gamers. Tryouts for the team were held this year, and members of the team will specialize in certain games, either as individual players or part of multiplayer squads, giving soldiers an opportunity to showcase their digital talents. This was a shock to a lot of soldiers. Some didn't even think the opportunity was real. The Army sent out an Army-wide email about the eSports program. A lot of people didn't believe it at first. Meet Sergeant David Blos, an aircraft power plant repairer with the 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade. Blos was introduced to video games by his dad, and he's been hoped ever since. He was big into computers and video editing, so we got together a lot to play different games. The time a new game came out, he would show me it, whether it be a first-person shooter, flight simulator, Age of Empires. Yeah, it was the main reason we bonded. Blos, being a lifelong gamer, was intrigued by the Army-wide email. So he reached out. Signed up for it, got their Discord channel, found the Siege team, and then from there we just started talking, they announced their tryouts, and then we just started playing for about three months. Shortly after it was announced, more than 6,500 soldiers applied to be a part of this new program. It's an in-depth process, akin to a tight-knit unit working out a potential new team member. Doing trial matches between the different people switching up the teams to see who worked well with who. They had an interview, and then they selected their teams based on that. Members will train to compete in eSports tournaments, take part in recruiting engagements, and interact with the public on a daily basis. The selected team members will be assigned to Recruiting Command at Fort Knox, Kentucky for three years. When not competing, they will train together, review tactics and practice maneuvers, as well as maintain their PT and MOS certifications. So in being good standings, obviously you must maintain PT, you must maintain everything, every duty and responsibility of the United States Army soldier, obviously pass an additional background check, and you also need to be competitive in that title. We don't just mean you enjoy playing that title, you need to have the potential to be competitive. These soldiers will have to live stream their game sessions online, creating content that connects to the American population and the gaming community, showcasing what these elite gamers are doing on a daily basis. The Army eSports program is engaging with the younger generation, and I feel this opportunity is important to help build the Army of tomorrow.