SINCE its creation in 1939, the Royal Armoured Corps has been an ever-evolving formation. Initially, the focus was on the mechanisation of cavalry and yeomanry units during the Second World War and then, in the Cold War era, its attention shifted to tank developments. More recently personnel have embraced the Challenger 2 life extension programme and now find themselves at the forefront of the digital age with the roll-out of the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle. So, when the esports scene started to gather pace in Army circles the corps was quick to embrace its mantra of evolution and get on board.Formed a year ago, the RAC now boasts the fastest growing gaming community in the Service with more than 220 troops testing their skills in titles such as Call of Duty and War Thunder on a daily basis.

“It’s all about creating opportunities for us to show off the talents of RAC personnel,” Maj Noel Claydon-Swales (LD), the officer who was initially asked to lead on the project, told Soldier. “To play these games you have to be an agile thinker and many of our soldiers’ skill sets are ideally suited to this, such as teamwork and management. It helps that a lot of these titles are military and fighting based. Mounted and dismounted close combat is what the RAC does and as recce troops we think and communicate quickly. In many ways it is not an activity we would traditionally engage with, but esports is what the average 20-year-old does – it is the norm. I genuinely think it is brilliant. From the outside you would think they are just locking themselves away in their rooms at the end of the day and not communicating or socialising with each other. But this is a different way of socialising and they are in there talking to their friends – they are just not sat next to each other in the pub as they do it.”

With little, if any, experience of the esports realm to his name Maj Claydon-Swales was quick to recruit a subject matter expert who would be able to create the platform for personnel to flourish. Step forward Sgt Lawrence Cox (RTR), the RAC’s esports corps manager. The 31-year-old grew up with games such as Goldeneye on the Nintendo 64 and as an avid War Thunder player he was the ideal candidate to move things forward.

“There was a push from the RAC for likeminded people to get together and form a corps team,” the NCO, who has served for 13 years, explained. “It grew from there and we had no idea how many soldiers were playing within the regiments. When I started this there was a stigma that it is nerdish, but gaming is good fun and I’ve always enjoyed it. This has given people the chance to stand up and say, ‘I play esports’. It is amazing how many personnel within the RAC and Army are playing.”

The coronavirus outbreak was a key contributor in the discipline’s rapid growth and, with traditional Army pursuits such as football, rugby union and boxing all shelved during the first lockdown, the simple act of firing up a console and joining an online session offered a welcome escape from the stark reality of everyday life.

The RAC conducts its activity via Discord, an instant messaging and digital distribution platform that is designed for creating communities. Here, members can communicate securely via voice and video calls, send text messages, share media files and form private chat groups. “I never knew that Discord even existed,” Sgt Cox said. “It is like a social media app. You can get friends together on a screen, share photos and create voice channels – there are so many possibilities. War Thunder is one of the biggest games we play, and I’d say 90 per cent of the squadrons have their own Discords. It has been a massive help. In terms of popularity, I think we would have eventually grown to the scale we’re now at, but Covid-19 has speeded things up. Soldiers couldn’t get out on the football or rugby pitches – this was the only thing they could do that was Covid compliant.”

While providing some much-needed respite, the world of esports also fosters a host of skills that are transferable to the day job. Teamwork and communication are obvious examples, but the benefits are not just generated from the on-screen action. Sgt Cox said: “Call of Duty, for example, requires pre-planning and tactics. There’s also a lot of admin involved. Training schedules and fixtures have to be organised, but it is not an OC or sergeant major who is doing that. It is private soldiers, troopers and lance corporals; they are developing leadership skills through esports. The RAC is always looking towards the future and for us that will be autonomous vehicles, UAVs and unmanned tanks. If we can start developing the skills whereby soldiers are able to process a lot of information being thrown at them on a screen from the comfort of their base, it will be a natural progression when such technology comes to the fore. Eventually, this will become our job. We will take a seat in a hangar, enter a code and suddenly be operating the systems of a tank that has no crew and drive it forward.”

As well as offering a welcome haven for serving personnel, the esports world may also serve as a potential recruiting tool for future RAC troops. Corps fixtures are shown live on the streaming platform Twitch – which is accessed by millions of fans around the world – and Army adverts are broadcast between games to highlight career opportunities in the military. “We are reaching an audience of 16- to 24-year-olds who are engaged in this,” Sgt Cox explained. “They are tech savvy and can work with complex systems, which are the skills we are looking to recruit. They are also used to working in teams and are familiar with tactics, so they have the blocks we can build on.” With staying at home forming the new norm as the battle with coronavirus wages on, the RAC is sure to add even more players to its esports ranks in the coming months. And with the gaming world offering a platform to sharpen potential skills of the future, the corps’ evolution looks set to continue.     

Big three - The games leading the RAC’s charge