The U.S. Army might not be able to attend career fairs or hold recruitment events right now, but its soldiers can still beat you in video games. The U.S. Army eSports division, launched out of Fort Knox, Tennessee as a recruitment effort, is thriving amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"When someone engages with the U.S. Army, especially soldiers, and they see a uniform, they may not necessarily understand who's underneath that uniform," said Sergeant First Class Christopher Jones, general manager of U.S. Army eSports. "A lot of times that I've talked to different people across America and they find out that I'm a gamer — a long-time gamer — they may give me an interesting look to say 'Oh I didn't realize soldiers play games.'"
The eSports division is a competition team and was created to make soldiers more "visible and relatable to today's youth." Its members are drawn from both the active-duty Army and the Army Reserves, representing the military branch in competitions and events nationwide.
Though the members of the eSports outreach teams are not recruiters, they play a support role in getting young gamers to see soldiers in a different light and offering up insight into careers the Army has to offer.
During the coronavirus pandemic, this remote outreach can net more prospective recruits than traditional means, which underscores the team's success. At its core, however, the program is meant to connect society with its soldiers.
"We created this program to connect America to its army through the passion of gaming," said Jones.
Israel said Wednesday that it will allow Egypt to deliver limited quantities of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, the first crack in a 10-day siege on the territory. Palestinians reeled from a massive blast at a Gaza City hospital that killed hundreds the day before and grew increasingly desperate as food and water supplies ran out.
A 4000-year-old slab of rock is being dubbed a treasure map for archaeologists. The rock was found in 1900 at the site of an ancient tomb in northwestern France and it was declared Europe's oldest known map in 2021.
Hundreds of people gathered for a vigil honoring a six-year-old Palestinian-American boy who was stabbed to death over the weekend by his family's landlord in an apparent hate crime.
If you have some older comic books stashed away in your attic, basement or closet, make sure to check their condition as they could be traded for serious cash. Cheddar News' Michelle Castillo at New Yor Comic Con spoke with Chris D'Lando, event manager with NYCC for Reedpop; Andy Mourat, co-founder and president of MetaZoo; and Julian Montoya, senior vice president of The Noble Collection, to get their thoughts.
Susan Akkad, senior vice president of innovation at Clinique, a finalist in the anti-aging category for the CEW Beauty Awards, joined Cheddar News to demonstrate some products to care for your skin as you age and how that is part of your overall healthcare.
