As part of ongoing efforts to tap into the youth demographic in the United States and potentially reach new recruits, the U.S. Army National Guard has put together a new magazine named “Hooah!.
The magazine is sent directly to households with prospective recruits and is plastered with ads and the “1-800-GO-GUARD.com” Web site. The magazine is free of charge and features interviews with heroic figures like NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. and singer Taylor Swift as well as workout tips and stories of inspiration from members of the U.S. Army.
“Hooah!” is a popular Army exclamation that is used when troops are out on a mission or in training. The sub-headline for the magazine is “Your Life, No Limits,” describing the type of content that is found within the magazine.
The mission statement of the magazine is as follows: “To celebrate and support America’s youth. To recgonize their many achievements and contributions to the American way of life. To offer an opportunity for discovery and learning, and to provide an open conversation about education, careers and the many choices facing today’s young adult.”
Subscriptions to “Hooah!” are free and can be obtained by going to 1-800-GO-GUARD.com/hooah.
The project is another way the Army is trying to capture the trust and the admiration of America’s youth. They have been advertising heavily in recent years due to low enrollment numbers and looking for new ways to try and get young people involved with the Army. The magazine features several of the Army National Guard’s own ads boasting different packages for students that give them money in exchange for service so they can go to college.
Make no mistake, this isn’t a glorified pamphlet, it’s an actual magazine with a wide variety of content and Army articles and ads spliced in. Other topics include food preparation, video game reviews and ratings for XBox 360 games, first-person stories of Army-related travel and challenges undertaken, and stories about music, mp3 players, and even “winning tips for American Idol hopefuls.” The magazine’s diversity illustrates just how important the youth demographic is to the U.S. Army National Guard and why they are putting on a full-court press to try and get people to subscribe to the magazine in order to capture their attention and imaginations while portraying the Army in a good light.
The Army feels it has suffered a bit of an image problem since the Iraq war was undertaken and “Hooah!” is part of their plan to polish up its image, especially in the eyes of young people.
Overall, the magazine is high quality and filled with a wide variety of content that will appeal to all different types of people, so even people that aren’t interested in joining the U.S. Army National Guard just might find something appealing to them, and the price is certainly right at no cost to readers.
