In celebration of Military Appreciation Month, the Call of Duty Endowment today announced the #CODEMedicalHeroes campaign to honour veteran medics and hospital corpsmen and to bring attention to the difficulties that they face finding jobs in the civilian healthcare industry. Through a series of Call of Duty: Warzone in-game activations, exclusive content packs, and partnerships beginning today and throughout the month of May, the #CODEMedicalHeroes campaign aims to raise a total of $3 million to fund veteran employment efforts, placing over 5,800 veterans into jobs.
The centerpiece of the campaign is the Call of Duty Endowment Battle Doc Pack, now available in both Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War and Call of Duty: Warzone. All of Activision’s net proceeds for the pack will go to the Endowment. The pack features a brand-new Operator Skin created in partnership with Army Veteran Combat Medic Timothy Hobbs Jr., an avid Call of Duty player who the Endowment helped place into a high-quality job through our grantee Still Serving Veterans. Sergeant First Class Timothy Hobbs was deployed on four combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan and on one humanitarian mission in Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
“The Call of Duty Endowment is dedicated to unlocking the value that veterans can bring to the civilian workforce. Unemployment and underemployment have often hit veterans hard, even more so during the ongoing pandemic, and we want to support our amazing partners who work tirelessly transitioning former service members into meaningful employment,” said Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick.
“The #CODEMedicalHeroes campaign will reach a wide audience of Call of Duty players through in-game activations and a new content pack, all to raise awareness and honour our veteran medics and hospital corpsmen. Veterans bring incredible value to the workforce, and we want to do our part to help find them high-quality jobs.”
#CODEMedicalHeroes will also honour medical servicemembers in-game through the Revival Challenge in Call of Duty: Warzone. From now until 9 May, players who revive five people while playing Warzone will unlock a unique Call of Duty Endowment calling card. If one million players complete the challenge, a double-XP Day will be given to all Call of Duty: Warzone players. Additionally, Activision Blizzard will donate $1 to the Endowment for each player that completes the challenge, up to $1 million.
“There is a disconnect for transitioning medical servicemembers. Many highly qualified veterans are being left out of the hiring process because they lack the proper civilian certifications, but I hope we can change that,” said Timothy Hobbs Jr. “As a success story and a believer in the Call of Duty Endowment, I applaud the work the Endowment is doing for the medical servicemember community to help them address this growing issue.”
Pilot Company, one of the largest operators of travel centers in North America and a key supporter of the Endowment, continued to demonstrate its ongoing commitment to veteran employment by donating $100,000 in honor of Military Appreciation Month. Their contribution will fund the placement almost 200 veterans into high-quality jobs.
The Call of Duty Endowment has funded the placement of more than 81,000 veterans into high-quality employment since its inception and aims to place 100,000 veterans into meaningful jobs by 2024. The Endowment’s 2020 cost to place a veteran was $515, providing employment at about 1/6 the cost of US Department of Labor efforts.