US Army unit offers soldiers 4 days off to play Grand Theft Auto VI if they re-enlist

A US Army unit is offering its troops a special bonus if they re-enlist soon: four extra days off timed around the November release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI.

Commanders of the 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion based at Fort Stewart, Georgia, believe free time to indulge in the latest entry in the Grand Theft Auto series – in which players commit carjackings, battle police in shoot-outs and attempt audacious heists – will sway some soldiers to extend their military commitments.

The November 19 release of Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be one of the year’s biggest entertainment events.

Game publisher Take-Two Interactive hasn’t released sales figures for pre-orders, but CEO Strauss Zelnick recently called them “unprecedented and astonishing”.

A career counsellor with the Army engineer battalion hatched the idea with commanders to tie a retention perk to the game’s release, in part to remind soldiers of their approaching reenlistment dates, said Lieutenant Colonel Angel Tomko, a Fort Stewart spokeswoman.

“The idea was to have a unique incentives programme that connects to what soldiers are interested in,” Tomko said in a statement on Thursday.