USA20 August, 20262 min read
U.S. Army Unit at Fort Stewart Offers Four-Day GTA VI Pass for Reenlistment
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Fort Stewart, Georgia's 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion offers a reenlistment incentive. Soldiers receive four extra days off around the November GTA VI release.
6 outlets told this the same way.
GTA VI leave perk
A U.S. Army unit at Fort Stewart, Georgia, is offering soldiers a retention incentive tied to the November release of Grand Theft Auto VI, with commanders saying the bonus is designed to sway some troops to extend their military commitments.
The memo described a “special four-day pass” for those who sign re-enlistment contracts by Nov. 14, and it is “specifically designed to coincide with the highly anticipated release of the video game Grand Theft Auto VI,” battalion commander Lt. Col. Ryan Hodgson wrote.
Commanders said the four extra days off are timed around the Nov. 19 release, and Lt. Col. Angel Tomko, a Fort Stewart spokesperson, said the program would connect to what soldiers are interested in.
The plan is linked to re-enlistment dates, with Tomko confirming the authenticity of a July 28 memo photographed and posted online, and she said at least 20 of 130 eligible soldiers have signed up for the bonus.
Who said what
Lt. Col. Angel Tomko told The Associated Press that “The idea was to have a unique incentives program that connects to what soldiers are interested in,” framing the policy as a way to align retention with soldiers’ interests.
The New York Post echoed the same structure, saying battalion commanders wrote that those who sign reenlistment contracts by Nov. 14 would receive “a special 4 day pass.”
The South China Morning Post also reported the incentive’s timing, stating that the November 19 release of Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to be one of the year’s biggest entertainment events.
In the same coverage, Take-Two Interactive was described as having not released sales figures for pre-orders, while CEO Strauss Zelnick called them “unprecedented and astonishing.”
Terms and rollout
To qualify for the four-day leave, soldiers must commit to serving at least two more years in uniform, and Tomko said at least 20 of 130 eligible soldiers had signed up for the bonus. The South China Morning Post described the incentive as four extra days off timed around the November release of Grand Theft Auto VI, and it tied the retention perk to the game’s release date.
The CBC report said the rollout was pre-empted when hackers leaked apparent footage online this week, and it added that developer Rockstar Games plans to debut gameplay video next week in an extended trailer on Netflix. The South China Morning Post similarly tied the incentive to the game’s release, while also noting that Rockstar’s latest instalment follows more than 13 years after GTA V, which it described as the second best-selling video game in history.