The U.S. Army has offered special leave linked to the release date of the popular game “GTA6” to encourage soldiers to reenlist.

On Aug. 18 (local time), online media outlet Gigazine reported that the U.S. Army’s 9th Engineer Battalion is pushing a “GTA6 4-day pass” that provides non-commissioned officers who sign reenlistment contracts with four days of leave starting on GTA6’s release date.

The program became known through an internal memo from the 9th Engineer Battalion. The memo states the program is a special reenlistment incentive aimed at raising retention and morale and rewarding continued service.

The program targets non-commissioned officers in the 9th Engineer Battalion. Soldiers who sign reenlistment contracts from Aug. 1, 2026, to Nov. 14 can use four days of leave starting on GTA6’s release date.

GTA6 is scheduled to be released on Nov. 19, 2026. Soldiers who meet the conditions will be able to take four days of leave immediately after the game’s release. The reenlistment contract deadline was also set for Nov. 14, five days before the release.

Questions were raised about the document’s authenticity immediately after it was made public. Online communities, however, cited similarities to real military documents, including the commander’s name and contact details and the document format, giving more weight to the possibility that it is an actual program.

This is not the first time the U.S. military has used unusual rewards to encourage reenlistment. Various reenlistment incentives have been used, including extended leave to pursue a bachelor’s degree and support for travel costs. This time, the notable feature is the direct tie-in with pop culture content.

In particular, GTA6 is drawing strong interest worldwide, and it appears there was a calculation that leave aimed at the release date could influence soldiers’ reenlistment decisions.

The memo released by the 9th Engineer Battalion also presents force retention and boosting morale as the program’s main objectives, rather than simply offering leave. It also stands out that it restricted the reenlistment timing to just before the game’s release, directly linking the contract and reward timing.

It has not yet been confirmed how many reenlistment contracts the program actually led to. Still, the case has drawn attention as an unusual example in which a military organization used the release date of a specific game to secure personnel, pushing GTA6 into reenlistment incentives as well.