8.17.2011

The U.S. Army: A New Candidate for QR Codes

With cutting edge technology growing more prominently in the Nation’s safety, it is no wonder why the U.S. Army is among the most powerful armed forces organizations in the world. Some people prefer to cling to the old ways but with the tide turning towards technological progress, the U.S. Military cannot afford to be left behind.

Recently, the U.S. Army has tapped the use of QR codes. The Army.mil website recently featured this new technology which opens up a lot of new possibilities for the military as well as civilians. These codes, which stand for Quick Response Code look like little boxes that are stacked on top of one another. Scanned with a Blackberry, Android or iPhone, QR codes can hold a great amount of information.

In order to gain access to the information these QR codes hold, one has to download an application that will enable the Blackberry, Android or iPhone device to read them. Several scanning applications are available and you get them for free. Scanlife, ShopSavvy, Redlaser and JumpScan are some that provide these apps. After downloading them, you can just scan a QR code to unlock its contents. You can also use these apps to scan standard bar codes which you can see in practically everything you buy.

So, how can the Army use QR codes? Currently, Army Career Centers in the Sacramento Recruiting Battalion are creating QR codes to streamline recruiting efforts. These QR codes will be placed on the facility’s windows so that in the event that an applicant comes in with no one to provide him with the information he needs, it will be a simple matter of scanning the QR code to find information about the particular Army Career Center they are interested in. Such QR codes may even allow an applicant to be directed to the Facebook page of the Army Career Center.

If you think about it, the possibilities of QR codes are virtually limitless. A few areas where the use of QR codes has been tested are in trail markers for hiking, business cards, nutrition information, and retail. This is just the tip of the iceberg as people continuously find ways of using QR codes.

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