UK to Recruit Gamers to Army

UK Defence Secretary John Healey has announced plans to recruit gamers to the country's armed forces to strengthen cyber defence.

He made the announcement at the annual congress of the British Labour Party, BBC reports.

In his speech, Healey announced plans to engage computer gamers in new cyber defence efforts, arguing that ‘if you are the best gamer, your country needs you’ and that the British army lacks drone operators.

‘You can see the changing nature of the war in Ukraine, where a combination of artillery and drones are causing the vast majority of casualties,’ he said.

‘The skills that drone operators have are in many ways the same as the skills that some of our best soldiers in civilian life do well,’ the British Defence Secretary added.

Healey also announced the easing of medical contraindications to military service: people with asthma and acne will no longer be considered unfit.

These steps are an attempt by the new British government to address the shortage of personnel in the Armed Forces and remedy the situation, which, according to Labour, is ‘much worse than we thought’.

According to the latest data from the British Ministry of Defence, there are currently 74,296 servicemen and women serving in the country's regular army, down from 79,330 in October 2019.

In July, the new UK Labour government announced the launch of a Strategic Defence Review of the Armed Forces to test their readiness to face current threats.