The U.S. Army planned to use Call of Duty streamers on Twitch as a means of gaining more Gen-Z recruits, according to military spending documents recently acquired by Vice. The Army has reportedly spent millions on the project--or planned to, anyway--with the hopes of winning over young adults and minorities who, historically, have plenty of interest in playing war games, but considerably less interest in enlisting in real life.

Vice acquired the documents via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, and according to their report, the U.S. Army had millions earmarked for the project's 2021-2022 goals. Over the course of those years, the Army aimed to use esportstournaments and high-profile streamers as advertisement platforms, with the ultimate goal of reaching an audience that has evidently proven elusive in terms of recruitment.

The documents openly state the desire for the ad campaign to target Gen-Z in particular, noting the preferred age range (18 to 24) in addition to other subgroups the Army hoped to reach via advertisement. "Focus on the growth of females, Blacks, and Hispanics," reads one section of the document.