Intel analyst follows eSports dream

Army News Service

FORT KNOX - Hyper focused on game play, Average Joey B finishes his match, completing another successful mission for the Army eSports team.

Staff Sgt. Joey Edwards, an intelligence analyst and NCO in charge for the Army eSports team, Marketing and Engagement Brigade, leads the eSports athletes as they compete at events across the nation.

Call to Serve

Edwards joined the Army in October 2011, when he was in high school because of his cousin, Thomas Moore. Moore deployed to Iraq in infantry and after returning, he died in an accident.

"I saw how much of an impact he had on my family and how much everyone looked up to him," he said. "I wanted to become that for my family."

Edwards served a year in Afghanistan, worked at the embassy in Mexico City, and said he loved working at the Defense Intelligence Agency in Washington, D.C.

"It was crazy hours, but I would make a product, get an email saying the secretary of defense read it, and here are his comments on the product. That was amazing," he said.

Edwards said joining the Army and traveling helped give him a global perspective and invaluable friendships.

"It's important to create a more open mind to learn more about the world," he said. "I've gained invaluable skill sets, resiliency and friends who've gone through the same things I've done. I have friendships and camaraderie."

Gaming

The first game system Edwards owned was a red Game Boy Pocket when he was five years old.

"I loved it. I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, but it taught me how to read well," he said.

His brother got a PlayStation 2 and let him play sports games and Dragon Ball Z now and then. In high school, he bought a PlayStation portable. During his basic training in the military, he had a PS3. He played NBA 2K, basketball and Call of Duty® Black Ops 2. He spent more than 5,000 hours playing Rocket League®.

He found out about the Army eSports team while he was serving overseas at the Combined Air Operations Center in Quatar. He joined the Discord server to communicate with the team, tried out and made the team.

eSports

The Army eSports Team is a competition team with members drawn from active duty and the reserve. They operate much like the Golden Knights and the Army Marksmanship Unit to create awareness about the Army and the opportunities it provides, said Capt. Mimi Mejia, U.S. Army Recruiting Command Marketing and Engagement Brigade company commander.

Edwards said he competes in 2X2 competitions, where it's two Soldiers versus two competitors like a bracket tournament, double elimination. They go through and win each game. They compete against other military branches or college athletes.

"Our team practices every day. They're scrimmaging. They're competing in tournaments. They're doing well," Edwards proudly said of his team.

He said the best part of being on the eSports team is that you can be in the Army and still follow your passions.

"You can serve your country and still follow your sport," he said.

The mission of the eSports team is not to be recruiters but to show the next generation the different roles Soldiers can have in the Army, said Mejia.

"We have a lot of individuals come up at fan expos who are like, 'I didn't know the Army had an eSports team,'" Edwards said. "We talk to them a lot about gaming. They're just curious. We understand their mindset. We just tell them our Army story and play against them."

Edwards said eSports is a great way to highlight that the Army also has technical capabilities.

"The Army is the only self-sustaining branch where we don't have to rely on the other branches to do anything," he said. "We can do everything ourselves. It helps when we're working as a team and using the other military branches, but we're the only self-sustaining branch."

When he meets the next generation interested in the Army, he tells them, "The Army has every job you could possibly think of, IT, cyber, intel, all of the different support jobs, not just combat arms," he said.

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