When I signed up, I was joined a group of Armed Forces trained to coordinate and work effectively on large projects. With guns.

It was well understood that when we don't need the guns, we'll still be a trained labour force. Filling sandbags, moving things, mass transport, searching for escaped prisoners, etc. It was strongly implied there was a good reason army bases were located near prisons, for instance.

I'm not sure why this is newsworthy, yet. But it's good PR when we need to up the allocation of common funds for the growth and maintenance of a coordinated labour force and the guns they sometimes need to use.